LEADING 

EVENTS  2: 

WISCONSIN  HISTORY 


THE  STORY... 
ofTHE  STATE 


HENRY  E.  LEGLER 


■^ 


LEADING  EVENTS 


OP 


Wisconsin  History 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


By  Henry  E.  Legler. 


The  Sentinel  Company, 

MlLWAUKEB,  Wis. 

1898. 


Ai 


Copyright,  1898,  by 
,TQh^  Sentin^i,  QosfP,«Ny, 


CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 
IN  THE  ERA  OF  BEGINNINGS. 

PAGE 

1.  The  Isle  of  Wisconsin 11 

2.  The  Builders  of  the  Mounds 14 

3.  Pre-Columbian  Copper  Mining  in  Wisconsin 18 

4.  The  Red  Men  of  Wisconsin 22 

5.  Legendary  Lore  of  Wisconsin  Indians 29 

PART    II. 
IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  THE  EXPLORERS. 

1.  When  Wisconsin  Was  Discovered 41 

2.  The  Strange  Adventures  of  Radisson 47 

3.  Rule  of  the  Forest  Ranger 52 

4.  A  Prince  of  Coureurs  de  Bois 56 

5.  The  Black  Gowns  and  Their  Wanderings 62 

6.  Unsolved  Mystery  of  Father  Menard's  Death    ...  65 

7.  Planting  of  the  Jesuit  Missions 67 

8.  Solving  the  Great  Western  Mystery 71 

9.  La  Salle  and  His  Companions 78 

10.  Travelers  in  the   Wilderness ^0 

11.  Friar  Hennepin's  Adventures 86 

PART    III. 
UNDER  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  DOMINION. 

1.  Firebrands  of  the  West 91 

2.  The  Hill  of  the  Dead 97 

3.  Naming  the  Inland  Waters 101 

4.  Some  Errors  of  Geography 105 

5.  Under  the  Flag  of  England 107 

6.  First  Permanent  Settlers  of  Wisconsin Ill 

7.  Alexander  Henry,  the  Fur  Trader 118 

8.  Captain  Jonathan  Carver,  the  Traveler 122 

9.  Dl-ring  the  War  for  Independence 126 

10.     The  Magna  Charta  of  the  Northwest 132 


ryiH.'?665 


Contents —  Continued. 


PART    IV. 
PIONEER  DAYS  IX  THE  TERRITORY. 

PAGE 

1.  First   Settlemexts 137 

2.  Village  Life  a  Hundred  Years  Ago 141 

3.  The  Capture  of  Prairie  du  Chien 144 

4.  Yankee  Fur  Traders  in  Wisconsin 152 

5.  Red  Bird's  Uprising 157 

6.  Life  in  the  Diggings 165 

7.  Black  Hawk's  War 172 

8.  In  the  Days  of  the  Territory 181 

9.  A  Modern  Utopia 189 

10.  A  Tragedy  in  the  Capitol 196 

11.  Strang's  Stake  of  Zion  at  Voree 198 

12.  The  Migration  Frosi  Over  the  Ocean 207 

PART    V. 
FIFTY  YEARS  OF  STATEHOOD. 

1.  The  Thirtieth  Star  in  the  Field  of  Blue 219 

2.  Rescue  of  Joshua  Glover,  a  Runaway  Slave    ....  226 

3.  On  the  Verge  of  Civil  War 230 

4.  Birth  of  the  Republican  Party  in  Wisconsin    ....  234 

5.  Strange  Story  of  a  Spurious  Lost  Prince 235 

6.  Mob  Law  as  a  Political  Factor 242 

7.  The  Tocsin  of  War 244 

8.  On  the  Field  of  Battle 253 

9.  Lieut.  Cushing's  Deed  of  Heroism ?!62 

10.  A  Dam  That  Saved  a  Flotilla    .     .     .     .  ' 269 

11.  Wisconsin's  Part  in  the  Capture  of  Jeff  Davis    .     .     .  271 

12.  Escape  of  Wisconsin  Officers  From  Libby  Prison    .     .  276 

13.  After  the  War — Events  of  Three  Decades 280 

14.  In  the  Realm  of  Politics 289 

15.  May  Riots  of  '86 301 

16.  The  Great  Boom  on  the  Gogebic 310 

17.  A.   D.   1897 317 


ILLUSTRATIONS    AND    PORTRAITS. 


PAGE 

Isle    Wisconsin        10 

Man- Shaped  Mound  near  Baraboo 12 

Elephant  Mound  in  Grant  County 13 

Typical  Group  of  Effigy  Mounds 15 

Tambourine  Drum  used  by  Menomonee  Indians 17 

Medicine   Drum   and   Stick 19 

Indian   Juggler's    Rattle 21 

Indian    Chant 23 

Birchbark  Vessel  for  Maple  Sap 2G 

Indian  Reservations  in  Wisconsin 28 

Ancient  Hunting  Grounds  of  the  Tribes 28 

Indian  Women  Gathering  Wild  Rice 31 

An  Ojibwa  Family  Record 35 

Samuel  de  Champlain,  Governor  of  New  France 42 

Earliest   Map  of  the  Wisconsin  Region 44 

French   Carry-all 45 

French   Voyageur  , 48 

Head   of   Cow   Moose       50 

French   Pony  Cart 51 

Coureurs  de  Bois  Carousing 53 

Plow  Used  a  Hundred  Years  ago 55 

Perrot's  Silver  Monstrance 57 

Father   Menard's   Autograph       .'....  58 

Wooden  Anchor  of  the  Voyageurs 60 

Autograph  of  Father  Allouez 61 

Statue    of   Pere    Marquette 63 

Old  Church  on  Madaline  Island 64 

Joliet's    Autograph 66 

Marquette's   Autograph       70 

First  Vessel  Built  on  the  Lakes 72 

Tonty's    Autograph 75 

Hennepin's  Drawing  of  a  Wisconsin  Buffalo 81 

The  Fox-Wisconsin  Portage       90 

Langlade's   Royal   Commission 92 

Scene  of  a  French  and  Indian  Battle 96 

Modern  View  of  the  Hill  of  the  Dead 98 

Oldest  Building  in  Wisconsin 108 

Signatures  to  Carver's  Famous  Deed 110 

Pauquette   Making  a  Portage 112 

Kaukauna   Deed   Signatures 115 

First  Paper  Money  Circulated  in  Wisconsin 117 

Ramsey   Crooks       ,  119 

Prairie  du  Chien  in  1835 121 

Captain   Jonathan    Carver       121 

The  Little  Drummer  and  the  Large  Sergeant 129 

Langlade's  Indians  and  the  Spoils  of  War 131 

Claims  of  the  Colonies  to  the  Northwest 133 


Illustrations  and  Portraits — Continued. 


Fort  Winnebago  in  1831 134 

Ruins  of  Fort  Crawford 134 

Fort   Howard   in  1851 134 

Gov.  Dodge  as  a  Young  Man 13(5 

Augustin    Grignon       143 

Lewis   Cass 146 

Ebenezer    Brigham 153 

Black  Hawk  War  Relics 158 

Black   Sparrow  Hawk 162 

First  Norwegian  Church  in  Wisconsin 164 

Zachary    Taylor       169 

First  Newspaper  Oflfice  in  Wisconsin 171 

Scene  at  Bad  Ax 176 

Territorial   Seals 182 

Madison   in   1836 .186 

Phalanx  Long   House   at   Ripon 190 

Gov.  Doty's  House  at  Shantytown 193 

Wisconsin's   First  Capitol       196 

King    Strang 199 

One  of  the  Voree  Plates 203 

Strang's    Castle       205 

Carl   Schurz 208 

James    G.    Percival 209 

Original  Mitchell  Bank  Building 212 

Pioneer   Milwaukee    Brewery 215 

Seals  of  the  State 218 

Nelson  Dewey,   First  Governor 220 

Leonard  J.  Farwell,  Second  Governor 222 

Senator  Isaac  P.  Walker 225 

Sherman  M.    Booth 227 

Byron    Paine       229 

Gov.  William  A.  Barstow 231 

Gov.  Coles  Bashford 233 

E.    G.    Ryan 233 

Eleazer  Williams  as  a  Young  Man 23G 

Eleazer  Williams  in  Priestly  Garb 238 

Jourdain  Residence  at  Green  Bay 240 

Gen.   Rufus   King .' 243 

Gov.    Edward   Salomon 245 

L.  P.  Harvey,  First  War  Governor 247 

Mrs.    Cordelia  Harvey 251 

J.    H.    Tweedy ' 253 

Old   Abe,   Wisconsin's   War   Eagle 255 

Commander  W.  B.  Gushing,  U.  S.  A 263 

Jefferson  Davis  as  a  Young  Man  in  Wisconsin 272 

A   War-Time   Handbill 274 

Gen.    Harrison   C.    Hobart       277 

Gen.   Lucius   Fairchild 288 

The  Little  Red  Schoolhouse 290 

Gov.  William  Dempster  Hoard       293 

Paul  Grottkau,  Socialist  Leader 302 

Robert  Schilling,   Labor  Leader 306 

Map  of  the  Gogebic  Ore  Vein S12 

Cabinet   Members  from  Wisconsin 316 


PRELIMINARY. 


Glancing  back  to  the  beginnings  of  Wisconsin,  there  pass  in 
panoramic  review  the  picturesque  first  comers,  the  hardy  French 
coureurs  de  bois  and  black-robed  Jesuit  priests;  the  palisaded  huts 
of  logs,  wherein  dwelt  the  fur  traders  and  the  soldiers;  the  bark 
chapels  wherein  priests  sought  to  win  heathen  savages  to  Christian 
faith,  even  at  the  expense  of  their  own  lives;  the  great  buffalo  hunts 
participated  in  by  the  red  men  and  their  white  companions;  the  dis- 
covery of  the  upper  Mississippi  by  Father  Marquette  and  Louis 
Joliet,  at  Prairie  du  Chien;  the  coming  to  Green  Bay  of  the  first  ves- 
sel that  sailed  these  lakes  and  the  tragic  fate  of  its  crew;  the  great 
wars  of  extermination  against  the  Fox  Indians,  and  the  thrilling 
story  of  the  Hill  of  the  Dead;  the  uprising  of  Red  Bird,  and  later 
the  Black  Hawk  war;  the  episodes  of  border  life  at  the  forts;  the  lead 
mine  fever  in  Southwestern  Wisconsin,  that,  like  the  gold  excite- 
ment of  California,  brought  in  its  train  a  motley  crowd  of  gamblers, 
thieves  and  other  adventurers,  as  well  as  men  who  sought  fortune  by 
delving  for  the  ore;  the  establishment  of  negro  slavery  in  Wiscon- 
sin, in  strange  contrast  to  the  stirring  part  later  taken  by  its  citi- 
zens in  the  eradication  of  this  blot  upon  civilization;  the  exciting  in- 
cidents connected  with  the  locating  of  the  capitol;  the  shooting  of 
Arndt  in  the  legislature;  the  experiment  of  the  Wisconsin  phalanx, 
much  like  the  more  celebrated  Brook  Farm  experiment;  the  strange 
career  of  King  Strang,  who  led  a  band  of  Wisconsin  Mormons  from 
Racine  county  to  an  island  in  Lake  Michigan,  where  he  founded  a 
kingdom  with  all  the  accessories  of  royalty;  the  coming  of  the  na- 
tions— the  Germans,  the  Irish,  the  Swiss,  the  Belgians,  the  Dutch, 
the  Poles,  and  the  characteristic  communities  they  have  planted  on 
the  soil  of  Wisconsin;  the  call  to  arms  and  the  response  of  the  loyal 
citizens;  the  days  of  statehood,  with  their  development  of  commer- 
cial, social  and  political  life;  the  struggles  of  the  self-made  men  who 
aided  in  building  up  this  commonwealth. 

The  chapters  which  follow  tell  the  story  of  the  state  in  its  sali- 
ent features;  having  been  written  for  newspaper  publication,  the  aim 
has  been  to  make  each  installment  as  nearly  complete  in  itself  as 
the  condensed  form  would  permit.  While  events  have  beeen  grouped 
for  the  sake  of  comprehensive  presentation,  chronological  order  has 
been  observed  as  nearly  as  possible. 

In  the  gathering  of  the  data,  more  than  a  thousand  books  and 
nearly  as  many  pamphlets  and  newspaper  files  bearing  more  or  less 


viii  Preliminary. 

directly  upon  the  subject,  were  consulted.  These  included  narra- 
tives of  the  early  French  and  English  travelers,  local  histories, 
monographs,  magazine  articles,  newspaper  accounts  and  interviews, 
-and  some  manuscripts.  The  treasures  of  the  splendid  collection 
amassed  at  Madison  by  the  State  Historical  society  were  kindly 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  writer.  I  am  also  greatly  indebted  to 
Benjamin  Suite,  Esq.,  the  leading  historian  of  Canada,  for  friendly 
and  valuable  aid,  all  his  manuscript  notes  and  monographs  bearing 
upon  the  history  of  the  Wisconsin  region  during  the  French  regime 
having  been  generously  placed  at  my  disposal,  without  reserve. 

Whatever  errors  of  omission,  as  well  as  commission,  may  be  at- 
tributed to  the  history — and  there  are  doubtless  both — the  writer  has 
conscientiously  endeavored  to  sift  the  great  mass  of  material  so  as 
to  bring  into  relief  those  events  which  are  conspicuous  either  by 
reason  of  their  picturesque  character  or  because  they  have  exercised 
a  potent  influence  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  the  commonwealth. 
There  has  been  an  earnest  effort  to  state  facts  accurately,  and  in  the 
narrative  of  the  later  period,  no  pains  have  been  spared  to  verify 
statements  by  means  of  correspondence  with  men  who  witnessed  or 
participated  in  the  events  described,  and  by  examination  of  all  docu- 
mentary evidence  available.  The  writer  disclaims  any  attempt  at  a 
critical  history,  or  a  desire  to  give  judgment  respecting  episodes 
about  which  differences  of  opinion  may  be  honestly  entertained.  The 
primary  purpose  has  been  to  give  a  fair  presentation  of  the  leading 
events  that  have  made  the  history  of  Wisconsin  unique  as  to  their 
romantic  or  picturesque  character  and  important  as  to  their  general 
bearing.  Beginning  with  the  travels  and  adventures  of  the  early 
travelers  and  continuing  through  the  later  period,  the  narrative  has 
been  told,  as  nearly  as  circumstances  and  space  would  permit,  in  the 
words  of  actual  participants,  in  order  to  better  reflect  the  spirit  of 
the  times  and  the  character  of  the  people  who  have  graven  the  his- 
tory of  Wisconsin. 

Two  features  of  Wisconsin's  history  have  not  been  given  the 
prominence  which  their  importance  warrants:  The  military  history 
of  Wisconsin  has  been  so  fully  told  in  books  specially  dealing  with 
the  state's  part  in  the  Civil  war  that  reference  thereto  has  been  con- 
fined to  the  most  conspicuous  exploits,  regimental  and  individual. 
The  state's  political  history  has  been  touched  upon  but  briefly;  its 
narration  in  detail  being  beyond  the  scope  of  this  book. 


PART  I. 


IN  THE  ERA  OF  BEGINNINGS. 


-™  'Bcu-a  Iron 


^        / 


S      E      A 


ISLE   WISCONSIN. 
Hypothetical  Map  of  Land  in  the  Trenton  Period. 


LEADING  EVENTS  OF  WISCONSIN  HISTORY. 


>     •-'    J  • 


CHAPTER  I.  '     ' 

THE    ISLE    OF    WISCONSIN. 

As  SCIENTISTS  are  enabled  by  putting  together  a  few  scattered 
bones  upturned  by  the  plowshare  to  tell  the  sEape  and  habits  of  ani- 
mals long  since  extinct,  so  geologists  can  trace  from  the  rocks  they 
break  with  their  hammers  the  history  of  the  land.  Thus  they  as- 
sert, with  positiveness,  that  ages  ago  the  area  that  is  now  the  north- 
central  portion  of  the  state  and  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan  was  an 
island  of  great  altitude.  They  trace  the  physical  history  of  Wiscon- 
sin back  even  to  a  state  of  c-omplete  submergence  beneath  the  waters 
of  the  ancient  ocean. 

"Let  an  extensive  but  shallow  sea,  covering  the  whole  of  the 
present  territory  of  the  state,  be  pictured  to  the  mind,"  suggests  the 
eminent  Wisconsin  geologist,  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  "and  let  it  be  imag- 
ined to  be  depositing  mud  and  sand,  as  at  the  present  day.  The 
thickness  of  the  sediment  that  accumulated  in  that  early  period  was 
immense,  being  measured  by  thousands  of  feet.  In  the  progress  of 
time  an  enormous  pressure,  attended  by  heat,  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  them  laterally,  or  edgewise,  by  which  they  were  folded  and 
crumpled  and  forced  out  of  the  water,  giving  rise  to  an  island — the 
nucleus  of  Wisconsin.  The  force  which  produced  this  upheaval  is 
believed  to  have  arisen  from  the  cooling  and  consequent  contraction 
of  the  globe.  The  foldings  may  be  imaged  as  the  wrinkles  of  a 
shrinking  earth." 

When  this  island  rose  from  the  wide  waste  of  waters  that  cov- 
ered all  the  land,  the  climate  was  tropical.  Rain  fell  in  abundance, 
and  soon  the  incessant  showers  that  poured  down  began  to  disinte- 
grate the  soil  on  top,  and  the  beating  waves  of  the  ocean  all  around 
crumbled  the  sides  without  cessation.  This  process  of  erosion,  con- 
tinued through  unnumbered  ages,  began  to  plane  the  mountainous 
island,  the  rains  washing  down  the  sediment  till  the  vast  accumula- 
tions piled  above  the  waters  on  every  side  and  added  to  the  area. 
Thus  as  the  altitude  of  this  island  was  cut  down,  its  area  expanded. 
Soon  little  outlying  islands  or  reefs  were  formed  that  in  time  be- 
came attached  to  the  parent  isle. 

During  the  process  of  ages  there  occurred  numerous  eruptions. 
The  crust  of  the  earth,  yielding  to  the  tremendous  pressure  from 

11 


12 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


beneath,  became  fissured,  and  immense  masses  of  molten  rock  pene- 
trated, bearing  with  them  the  mineral  ingredients  which  later  chemi- 
cal processes  have  converted  into  those  deposits  that  have  yielded 
vast  riches  to  their  finders.  Thus  by  continued  upheavals  and  ero- 
sions the  surface  and  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  ancient  island  of 
Wisconsin  was  subjected  to  incessant  change. 

The  first  mineral  formations  were  doubtless  what  are  known  as 
ih^  if oq-be^rin^'  series,  the  most  conspicuous  development  being  the 
^ei^o^g?  iron,  range  in  Ashland  county.    At  the  same  time  there  rose 


Man-Shaped  Mound. 
(Near  Baraboo.) 


from  the  waters  the  Baraboo  quartzite  ranges,  which  formed  a  group 
of  small  islands  where  now  Sauk  county  appears  on  the  map  of  tne 
United   States. 

After  the  great  upheavals  that  resulted  in  deposits  of  iron  and 
copper,  and  accumulations  of  sandstone  miles  in  thickness,  came  a 
great  period  of  erosion.  To  the  disintegrations  thus  washed  into  the 
water  were  added  immense  accumulations  of  myriad  millions  of  the 
remains  of  marine  life.  In  the  words  of  Prof.  Chamberlin,  "abun- 
dant life  swarmed  in  the  ocean,  and  the  sands  became  the  great 
cemetery  of  the  dead."  The  casts  of  numerous  trilobites  found  in 
this  state  are  relics  of  this  age. 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


13 


Immense  beds  of  sandstone,  with  layers  of  limestone  and  siiale, 
were  formed.  The  waters  acting  on  the  copper  and  iron  of  the 
Lake  Superior  region  gave  the  sandstone  deposits  there  its  tint  of 
red.  On  the  southern  end  of  the  island  the  sandstones  lacked  this 
element  and  they  are  to  this  day  light  colored. 

As  the  sand  accumulations  added  to  the  island  along  its  south- 
eastern front,  the  oceanic  conditions  massed  great  quantities  of 
galena  ore  with  the  limestone  there  formed.  Here  later,  in  what  are 
now  Grant,  Lafayette  and  Iowa  counties,  and  extending  into  Illinois, 
were  developed  the  lead  mines  that  became  the  scene  of  a  great  min- 
ing excitement  early  in  this  century. 

When  the  period  of  iron  deposits  and  limestone  formations  was 
drawing  to  a  close,  coral  reefs  rose  above  the  surface,  similar  in 
their  characteristics  to  those  that  form  the  atolls  of  to-day.  With 
these  tiny  animals   were   associated   the  mollusks   that   have  been 


Elephant  Mound  in  Grant  Countt. 


called  "the  oyster  of  the  Silurian  seas."  Then  came  the  deposits  on 
the  southeast,  in  a  limited  area,  that  have  produced  the  valuable 
cement  beds  along  Milwaukee  river. 

Next  came  the  great  ice  age.  One  monster  stream  of  ice  plowed 
along  the  eastern  edge  and  hollowed  the  bed  of  Lake  Michigan;  an- 
other scooped  out  Lake  Superior  and  penetrated  into  Minnesota, 
while  between  these  prodigious  prongs  of  ice  one  of  lesser  size  bored 
its  way  along  Green  Bay  and  down  the  valley  of  the  Fox. 

When  warmer  days  came  the  monster  glaciers  melted.  The  ice 
became  water  and  filled  numerous  depressions  scooped  out  in  the 
irresistible  progress  of  the  vast  masses.  Thus  were  formed  the  two 
thousand  and  more  lakes  that  make  of  Wisconsin  a  summer  para- 
dise. The  warmth  that  melted  the  ice  to  water  also  brought  forth 
vegetation  to  cover  the  nakedness  of  the  land,  the  forests  grew,  and 
"man  came  upon  the  scene." 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE   BUILDERS   OF   THE   MOUNDS, 

Who  were  the  first  dwellers  on  the  soil  that  Is  now  known  as 
Wisconsin? 

For  many  years  it  was  believed  that  an  ancient  race  conversant 
with  the  arts  of  civilization  inhabited  the  land;  that  finally  the  bar- 
barous precursors  of  the  Indians  came  like  the  locusts  of  Egypt  and 
drove  the  ancient  people  southward,  never  to  return;  that  this  lost 
tribe  of  men  were  the  progenitors  of  the  Aztecs,  now  extinct,  and 
that  the  evidence  of  their  existence  here  is  to  be  found  in  the  many 
defensive  and  sepulchral  mounds  that  once  dotted  this  state,  and  in 
the  abandoned  workings  of  the  Lake  Superior  copper  region. 

For  many  years  scientists  tenaciously  held  this  view,  but  patient 
investigators  have  finally  traced  the  construction  of  the  tumuli  to 
Indian  origin.  Artificial  mounds  have  been  found  in  great  numbers 
in  the  Mississippi  river  valley,  but  Wisconsin  has  proved  especially 
rich  in  these  antiquities.  It  has  been  estimated  that  not  less  than 
10,000  mounds  once  existed  in  this  state.  Many  of  these  have  dis- 
appeared under  the  leveling  influences  of  the  plow,  and  even  the 
remarkable  earthworks  at  Aztalan,  in  Jefferson  county,  have  been 
partly  obliterated  by  a  tiller  of  the  soil  who  preferred  a  crop  of  corn 
to  a  site  of  historic  interest. 

Many  of  the  mounds  in  Wisconsin  possess  a  rare  interest  in  that 
they  are  fashioned  in  the  form  of  animals.  Except  in  a  few  isolated 
localities  in  neighboring  states,  tumuli  of  the  class  known  as  effigy 
mounds  are  found  in  Wisconsin  only.  The  favorite  types  seemed 
to  be  the  lizard,  the  turtle,  the  buffalo,  the  squirrel  and  a  winged 
form  that  might  be  likened  to  a  bird.  One  of  the  remarkable  animal 
mounds,  found  in  Grant  county,  was  for  a  long  time  supposed  to  rep- 
resent a  mammoth,  and  the  circumstance  strengthened  the  argument 
that  a  prehistoric  race  from  another  continent  once  dwelt  here.  As 
the  hairy  mammoth,  the  prototype  of  the  elephant,  was  not  known 
to  have  existed  on  this  continent,  it  seemed  plausible  that  the  an- 
cient men  fashioned  a  mound  recalling  one  of  the  animals  of  the 
land  whence  they  originally  migrated.  Since  it  has  been  established 
that  Indians  built  the  mounds,  the  theory  has  obtained  that  this 
elephant  form  was  designed  to  represent  a  buffalo,  and  that  a  land- 
slide lengthened  the  snout  into  resemblance  of  an  elephant's  pro- 
boscis. The  measurements  of  this  large  effigy  mound  were  ascer- 
tained to  be  as  follows:  Total  length,  135  feet;  across  the  body.  36 
feet;  from  end  of  proboscis  to  forelegs,  39  feet. 

This  interesting  relic  of  the  past  has  nearly  disappeared  under  the 
obliterating  process  of  the  agriculturist. 

14 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


15 


Most  curious  of  all  the  mound  structures  was  the  "ancient  city 
of  Aztalan,"  as  the  supposed  fortifications  in  Jefferson  county  have 
been  called.  This  ancient  enclosure,  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in 
Wisconsin,  was  for  a  long  time  believed  to  have  been  a  citadel,  but 
Increase  A.  Lapham's  investigations  established  the  fact  that  it  was 
Intended,  not  for  defense,  but  for  the  performance  of  sacred  rites  and 
for  burial.  The  ancient  city  was  discovered  just  sixty  years  ago, 
and  has  often  been  referred  to  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  Western 
world.  Its  discoverer  gave  it  its  name,  suggesting  its  occupancy  by 
the  old  Aztecs.  Early  writers  described  the  works  as  a  fortress, 
with  bastions  or  buttresses  at  nearly  regular  distances.  As  the  earth 


Group  of  Effigy  Mounds  Peculiar  to  Wisconsin. 

1.  Squirrel  Mound,  Mendota.  2.  Bear  Mound,  English  Prairie.  3.  Deer  Mound, 
near  Madison.  4.  Bird  Mound,  Lake  Wingra.  5.  Turtle  Mound,  Waukesha. 
6.  Frog  Mound,  Wisconsin  River.    7.  War  Club  Mound,  Mayville. 


near  the  top  was  burned  and  the  reddish  clay  bore  impressions  of 
fttraw,  it  was  supposed  that  the  walls  were  built  of  brick.  An  ex- 
haustive examination  showed,  however,  that  the  banks  are  of  earth, 
the  mixture  of  wild  hay  and  burned  clay  extending  but  a  short  dis- 
tance below  the  surface,  and  that  the  so-called  bricks  bore  no  regu- 
lar form.  The  projecting  mounds,  which  some  antiquarians  assumed 
to  be  bastions  of  a  fort  or  citadel,  were  found  to  be  sepulchres.  A 
cavity  was  found  wherein  two  bodies  had  been  interred  in  a  sitting 
posture.  There  were  also  found  numerous  fragments  of  earthen- 
ware, portions  of  broken  vessels  varying  in  size  from  a  few  inches 
to  three  feet  across  the  rim.    The  relics  unearthed  by  antiquarians 


16  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

have  been  carried  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  for  many  men  of  science 
have  used  the  spade  among  these  mounds  during  the  last  half  cen- 
tury. 

Many  plausible  arguments  have  been  advanced  in  support  of  the 
theory  that  here  was  a  citadel  to  which  the  mound  builders  repaired 
when  threatened — the  buttresses  or  bastions  at  regular  intervals,  the 
watch  towers  and  the  outworks,  the  strategic  location  along  the 
Rock  river,  giving  the  besieged  access  to  water,  all  conveyed  the 
impression  that  the  enclosure  was  designed  for  a  military  fortifica- 
tion. This  theory  is  exploded  by  Lapham's  observation  that  "the 
fort  is  entirely  commanded  from  the  summit  of  a  ridge  extending 
along  the  west  side  parallel  with  and  much  higher  than  the  west 
walls  themselves,  and  within  fair  arrow  shot;  so  that  an  enemy 
posted  on  it  would  have  a  decided  advantage  over  those  within  the 
defense." 

It  is  the  conclusion  of  Lapham  that  this  was  a  place  of  worship; 
"the  pyramidal  mounds  being  the  place  of  sacrifice,  like  the  teocalli 
of  Mexico.  From  its  isolated  situation — there  being  no  other  similar 
structure  for  a  great  distance  in  any  direction — it  may  be  conjec- 
tured that  this  was  a  kind  of  Mecca  to  which  a  periodical  pilgrimage 
was  prescribed  by  their  religion.  Here  may  have  been  the  great 
annual  feasts  and  sacrifices  of  a  whole  nation.  Thousands  of  per- 
■ions  from  remote  locations  may  have  engaged  in  midnight  cere- 
monies conducted  by  the  priests.  The  temple,  lighted  by  fires 
kindled  on  the  great  pyramids  and  at  every  projection  on  the  walls, 
on  such  occasions  would  have  presented  an  imposing  spectacle,  well 
calculated  to  impress  the  minds  of  the  people  with  awe  and  solemn- 
ity. That  these  works  were  designed  for  some  such  uses  seems  quite 
probable." 

The  total  length  of  the  wall  constituting  the  enclosure,  when 
the  measurement  was  first  taken,  was  2,750  feet,  the  ridge  being 
about  twenty-two  feet  wide.  At  regular  intervals,  on  the  outside, 
were  the  mounds  which  descriptive  writers  have  called  bastions  of 
the  fort.  These  were  about  eighty  feet  apart,  and  about  forty 
feet  in  diameter. 

It  was  a  matter  of  dispute  for  a  long  time  whether  some  of  the 
eflBgy  mounds  were  modeled  after  the  human  form.  Some  antiqua- 
rians contended  that  the  mounds  were  so  designed,  others  that  the 
form  of  a  bird  was  intended.  It  must  be  conceded  that  many  of  the 
mounds  which  were  so  described  as  man-shaped  bore  little  resem- 
blance to  the  human  form  divine.  It  was  not  till  1859  that  convincing 
proof  was  obtained  that  the  ancient  sculptors  of  earth  sought  to 
model  the  human  form.  In  that  year  there  was  found  near  Baraboo, 
in  Sauk  county,  an  earthwork  that  was  unmistakably  formed  like  a 
man.  It  was  a  huge  figure,  measuring  fully  two  hundi-ed  and  four- 
teen feet,  with  a  head  thirty  feet  in  length,  body  one  hundred  and 
legs  eighty-four  feet  long.     The  lines  were  graceful,  this  verdure- 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


17 


clad  giant  being  in  position  of  walking  towards  the  West.  While 
the  variouB  members  were  somewhat  disproportionate,  there  was  no 
mistaking  the  general  form. 

Other  man-shaped  mounds  have  since  been  found,  but  none  so 
perfect  in  its  outlines. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  flourishing  cities  of  to-day  are  most- 
ly where  once  were  the  chief  gathering  places  of  the  Indians,  and 
that  the  old  Indian  trails  were  almost  idenjtical  with  the  stage  routes 
that  succeeded  them.    Ic  was   not  all  coincidence  that  led   to   the 


Tambourine  Drum. 


choice  of  identical  centers  of  population  and  routes  of  travel,  for 
the  natural  geographical  advantages  largely  determined  this  selec- 
tion for  the  red  men,  as  well  as  the  white  men.  Tracing  the  analogy 
to  prehistoric  times,  the  same  facts  hold  true.  Milwaukee,  Madison, 
Beloit,  Waukesha,  Fort  Atkinson,  Pewaukee,  Sheboygan,  Racine, 
Manitowoc,  Prairie  du  Chien  and  many  other  cities  in  the  southern 
half  of  the  state  are  located  where  the  presence  of  numerous  emble- 
matic mounds  show  that  prehistoric  villages  once  existed,  for  these 
mounds  have  been  located  usually  on  the  natural  lines  of  travel,  and 
the  places  where  groups  of  them  have  been  found,  show  evidences  of 
earlier  occupation  by  considerable  numbers  of  people. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PRE-COLUMBIAN    COPPER    MINING    IN    WISCONSIN. 

Most  curious  of  all  the  ancient  implements  unearthed  in  Wis- 
consin are  specimens  of  unalloyed  copper — the  most  rare  of  all 
archaeological  findings.  When  it  became  known  that  Wisconsin's 
soil  contained  more  of  these  relics  of  pre-Columbian  copper  mining 
in  North  America  than  any  other  region  known,  much  attention  was 
attracted  to  the  discoveries  made  here.  At  the  Centennial  exposi- 
tion, twenty  years  ago,  the  whole  number  of  copper  implements  ex- 
hibited was  210.  Of  these  164  came  from  Wisconsin.  The  rarity  of 
such  specimens  previous  to  the  Wisconsin  finds  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  the  only  European  museum  at  that  time  known  to  pos- 
sess copper  tools  was  the  Royal  Academy  at  Dublin,  and  the  few 
specimens  there  came  from  India. 

The  Wisconsin  coppers  comprise  a  variety  of  implements.  Many 
of  them  are  spear  and  arrow  heads,  marked  with  dents  to  represent 
the  number  of  beasts  or  men  killed  by  the  weapon;  some  are  knives, 
chisels,  adzes  and  other  tools;  a  number  are  axes,  weighing  as  much 
as  four  and  a  half  pounds.  The  heaviest  copper  specimen  ever  un- 
earthed is  a  Wisconsin  ax,  whose  weight  is  nearly  five  pounds. 

Like  the  ancient  mounds,  the  origin  of  Wisconsin's  copper  im- 
plements has  become  a  fruitful  source  of  learned  controversy.  Those 
who  have  maintained  that  copper  implements  were  the  handiwork  of 
a  pre-Indian  race,  have  argued  that  Indian  ingenuity  never  reached 
Buch  development  as  is  exhibited  in  their  manufacture;  moreover, 
that  when  white  men  first  came  among  Wisconsin  Indians,  their 
tools  and  arrow  heads  were  made  of  flint  and  not' of  metal — showing 
that  copper  mining  was  an  art  unknown  to  Indians. 

In  the  written  accounts  of  some  of  the  early  French  voyageurs 
in  this  region,  which  have  been  preserved  in  the  archives  at  Paris, 
there  is  no  reference  to  the  use  of  copper  tools,  though  the  knowl- 
«dge  of  the  metal,  which  the  Indians  of  that  period  regarded  as  a 
sacred  gift,  not  as  an  article  of  utility,  is  mentioned.  In  1660  Claude 
Allouez,  founder  of  the  first  Catholic  mission  in  Wisconsin,  wrote: 
"I  have  seen  in  the  hands  of  the  savages  pieces  of  copper  weighing 
from  ten  to  twenty  pounds.  They  esteem  them  as  divinities  or  as 
presents  made  them  by  the  gods." 

Writing  of  the  Wisconsin  Indians  after  his  journey  from  Green 
Bay  past  the  site  of  the  future  city  of  Milwaukee,  two  hundred  and 
fifteen  years  ago,  Robert  de  La  Salle  noted  that  "the  extremity  of 
their  arrows  is  armed  with  a  sharp  stone  or  the  tooth  of  some  animal, 
instead  of  iron.  Their  buffalo  arrow  is  nothing  else  but  a  stone  or 
bone,  or  sometimes  a  piece  of  very  hard  wood." 


The  Story  of  the  State.  1» 


Father  Louis  Hennepin,  who  was  faithful  in  his  description  of 

Indian  customs,  though  inclined  to  exaggerate  when  narrating  his 

own  wonderful  deeds,  tells  in  his  history  that  the  Indians  instead  of 

,  hatches  and  knives   utilized  sharp  stones,  and  instead  of  awls  used 

sharp  bones. 


MEDICINE  DRUM  AND   STICK. 
FROM    THE    FIFTEENTH    ANNUAL,    BUREAU    OF    ETHNOLOGY    REPORT. 

(Used  by  Menomonee  Indians.     The  drum  contains  water,  and  the  hollow  rever- 
beration of  the  drum-beat  can  be  heard  a  mile  distant.) 

A  later  writer  was  the  French  historian  Charlevoix.  He  visited 
these  parts  about  1720,  and  described  the  Indian  hatchets  of  flint, 
which  were  the  only  implements  used  in  felling  trees. 

"To  fix  them  in  the  handle,"  he  said,  "they  cut  off  the  head  of  a 
young  tree  and  make  a  notch  in  it,  in  which  they  thrust  the  head  of 
the  hatchet.    After  some  time  the  tree,  by  growing  together,  keeps 


20  Leading  Events  of  Wiscon.sin  History. 

the  hatohet  so  fixed  that  it  cannot  come  out.  They  then  cut  the 
tree  to  such  a  length  as  they  would  have  the  handle.  Both  the  ar- 
rows and  javelins  are  armed  with  a  point  of  bone  wrought  in  differ- 
ent  shapes." 

The  venerable  Dr.  J.  D.  Butler  of  Madison  learnedly  contended 
for  many  years  that  the  copper  implements  found  in  Wisconsin  show 
evidences  of  having  been  cast  in  moulds,  some  of  them  showing  the 
mould  marks  where  the  halves  of  the  form-flask  united. 

The  scoffers  at  the  theory  of  a  pre-historic  metallurgy  have 
argued  as  strongly  on  the  other  side.  Dr.  P.  R.  Hoy  of  Racine,  ex- 
president  of  the  Wisconsin  Academy  of  Sciences,  declared  that  the 
copper  miners  of  the  Lake  Superior  region  did  not  employ  a  smelt- 
ing process  in  fashioning  their  implements. 

"Copper  is  a  refractory  metal,"  he  said.  "It  melts  at  from  2,200 
to  2,600  degrees,  a  temperature  that  can  be  reached  only  in  a  furnace 
assisted  by  some  form  of  coal  and  an  artificial  blast.  We  must  have 
good  evidence  before  we  assert  that  these  dwellers  by  the  lake  pos- 
sessed these  indispensable  auxiliaries  to  successful  working  in 
metals.  Besides,  in  casting  copper,  it  is  positively  necessary  to  put 
the  materials  in  a  crucible.  The  manufacture  of  good  crucibles,  such 
as  will  withstand  the  heat  necessary  to  melt  the  more  refractory 
metals,  involves  such  a  degree  of  knowledge  that  for  many  genera- 
tions the  entire  civilized  world  was  dependent  on  a  small  section  of 
Germany." 

Dr.  Hoy  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  a  majority  of  the  cop- 
per implements  found  in  Wisconsin  have  specks  or  points  of  pure 
silver  scattered  over  them.  The  best  authorities  say  that  a  single 
speck  of  pure  silver,  visible  even  with  the  microscope,  is  positive 
evidence  that  the  specimen  was  never  melted. 

It  was  the  theory  of  Dr.  Hoy  that  the  specimens  were  hammered 
Into  shape,  and  not  smelted.     This  is  his  explanation: 

"These  ancient  Indians,  for,  I  believe,  they  were  Indians,  used  nre 
in  their  mining  operations.  The  vein  rock  was  made  hot  by  build- 
ing a  fire  on  or  against  ii;  then,  by  dashing  on  water,  the  rock 
would  not  only  be  fractured,  but  the  exposed  pieces  of  copper  be 
softened,  so  that  it  could  be  beaten  into  shape.  Then  the  metal  be- 
came hard,  in  consequence  of  its  being  pounded;  it  was  again  heated 
and  plunged  into  cold  water — for  copper  is  in  this  respect  the  op- 
posite of  steel;  the  one  is  softened,  while  the  other  is  rendered  hard. 
In  this  way  copper  was  fashioned  simply  by  pounding." 

The  Lake  Superior  copper  region  affords  the  most  remarkable  oc- 
currence of  native  copper  in  the  world.  The  old  miners,  whether 
they  were  Indians  or  Aztecs,  worked  mines  superficially  only.  Isle 
Royale  is  honey-combed  with  the  ancient  diggings.  In  this  island 
an  interesting  relic  was  found  by  an  archaeologist,  Henry  Oilman. 
In  cleaning  out  the  debris  from  a  pit  he  came  upon  a  crescent- 
shaped  mass  of  metal,  weighing  5,720  pounds. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  21 

"Such  a  huge  mass,"  says  he  in  a  description  of  his  find,  "was 
evidently  beyond  the  ability  of  those  ancient  men  to  remove.  Thoy 
could  only  deal  with  it  as  best  they  knew  how.  Large  quantities  of 
ashes  and  charcoal  lying  round  it  show  that  the  action  of  fire  had 
been  brought  to  bear  on  it.  A  great  number  of  stone  hammers  or 
mauls  were  also  found  near  by,  many  of  them  fractured  from  use.  In- 
numerable fragments  of  copper  chips  lay  strewn  on  all  sides,  and 
even  the  scales  of  fish,  evidently  the  remnants  of  the  meals  of  the 
miners." 

The  trend  of  modern  investigation  dispels  the  theory  of  pre- 
historic mining  operations.  It  establishes  the  fact  that  the  Indians 
were  the  so-called  miners,  and  that  when  the  white  men  came  among 
them  the  laborious  process  of  securing"  the  metal  was  abandoned 
because  they  could  more  easily  obtain  hatchets  and  knives  by  bar- 
tering their  furs. 


Indian  Juggler's  Rattle. 
{Employed  by  Menomonee  Medicine  Men  to  Exorcise  Evil  Spirits.) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  RED  MEX   OF  WISCONSIN. 

Early  comers  to  Wisconsin  found  the  islands  of  Green  Bay  in- 
habited by  the  Pottawattomie  Indians.  Crossing  the  eighteen  miles  of 
water,  there  was  reached  the  chief  village  of  the  Menomonees,  or,  as 
the  French  called  them,  the  Wild  Rice  Eaters.  Their  wigwams 
clustered  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  bearing  their  name.  At  the  head 
of  the  bay  were  the  Winnebago  Indians,  the  "Men  of  the  Sea,"  whom 
Nicolet  sought  in  1634  under  the  erroneous  impression  that  they 
were  Chinamen;  following  the  Fox  river,  next  were  encountered  the 
Mascoutens,  known  as  the  Fire  Nation;  adjacent  were  the  warlike 
Sacs  and  Foxes.  Along  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior  dwelt  the  Ojib- 
was,  now  better  known  as  the  Chippewas;  to  the  southwest  of  thom, 
on  the  St.  Croix,  were  straggling  bands  of  the  Sioux,  whose  main 
body  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Mississippi  river.  In  the  south- 
western part  of  what  is  now  the  state  of  Wisconsin  were  the  Kicka- 

JJOOS. 

These  are  the  chief  tribes  of  red  men  that  figure  in  the  early 
history  of  Wisconsin.  They  represented  two  great  linguistic  stocks 
of  Indians — the  Algonkin  and  the  Dakotan.  Here  on  Wisconsin 
soil  the  two  powerful  confederacies  first  came  in  contact.  Indian 
boundaries  were  never  well  defined,  and  thus  the  hunting  grounds 
claimed  by  these  various  tribes  were  subject  to  incessant  shiftlngs. 
There  seems  to  have  been  little  conflict  between  the  Winnebagoes, 
who  are  of  Dakotan  extraction,  and  their  Algonkin  neighbors;  but 
between  the  Chippewas  and  the  Sioux  hostilities  were  incessant,  and 
bloody  wars  frequent  over/Doundary  disputes. 

The  Indians  of  Wisconsin  have  played  an  important  part  in  the 
history  of  the  nation.  The  Fox  Indians,  at  first  staunch  allies  of  the 
French,  later  became  their  inveterate  foes,  and  contributed  to  that 
series  of  events  which  ended  in  the  fall  of  New  France.  On  the 
plains  of  Abraham,  Charles  de  Langlade,  Wisconsin's  first  perma- 
nent white  settler,  led  another  band  of  Wisconsin  Indians  against 
the  forces  of  Wolfe.  Again,  on  that  fatal  day  when  Gen.  Braddock's 
English  forces  were  nearly  annihilated  and  George  Washington  es- 
tablished his  reputation  as  a  soldier,  Wisconsin  Indians  under  the 
same  leader  aided  in  the  dreadful  slaughter;  in  their  lodges  in  Wis- 
consin for  many  a  day  hung  the  scalps  of  these  soldiers  of  England. 

In  the  Revolutionary  war  and  in  the  war  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century  (1812)  the  Indians  of  Wisconsin  sided  with  the  red  coats 
against  the  American  colonists.  In  the  bloody  battles  in  Ohio,  Wis- 
consin Indians  shed  many  a  frontiersman's  blood.  When  George 
Rogers  Clark  conquered  the  Northwest  with  his  handful  of  "Long 


The  Story  of  the  State.  23 

Knives,"  Wisconsin  Indians  were  among  the  allies  of  the  British 
with  whom  he  had  to  contend. 

The  Black  Hawk  war  was  carried  on  by  the  Fox  and  Sac  Indians 
after  their  migration  into  Illinois,  but  the  decisive  battles  were 
fought  on  Wisconsin  soil.  Wisconsin  Winnebagoes  were  the  captors 
of  the  Sac  chieftain  after  the  slaughter  of  his  tribe  at  Bad  Axe. 

How  numerous  the  Indians  were  before  white  men  came  among 
them  it  is  only  possible  to  approximate.  When  it  is  considered 
that  the  entire  Indian  population  of  the  United  States  did  not  at  any 
time  exceed  half  a  million,  or  about  one-fourth  the  total  number  of 
inhabitants  that  Wisconsin  alone  has  to-day,  it  can  be  readily  sur- 
mised that  the  forests  and  prairies  of  Wisconsin  were  but  sparsely 
populated.  It  has  been  approximated  that  the  number  was  never  In 
excess  of  15,000  to  20,000.    Indian  nomadic  life  could  not  prove  con- 


2. 

tr. 


-i»- 


5EEE33;3EE333: 


tr^l  tr.^  I 


t 


ir-w                       ir^>^  tr^v 

— # i-0 a 0—«-4 e — *— jj 


Indian  Chant. 


ducive  to  large  families.  Wisconsin  Indians  moved  with  the  sea- 
sons, following  game  or  seeking  the  ground  best  adapted  for  grow- 
ing corn.  In  the  places  where  water  and  fish  were  accessible  and 
where  grain  and  root  crops  flourished  most,  they  pitched  their 
wigwams;  in  these  places  the  toiling  priests  came  to  them,  and  in 
these  places  have  been  built  the  principal  cities  of  the  state. 

In  most  respects  the  life  of  Wisconsin  Indians  did  not  differ  ma- 
terially from  that  of  other  Indians  of  allied  tribes.  Game  was  abun- 
dant and  included  many  animals  which  are  now  extinct  or  to  be 
found  only  in  the  far  West.  On  the  prairies  in  the  western  part  of 
the  state  roamed  great  herds  of  buffalo.  Bear,  elk,  moose,  antelope 
and  even  the  woodland  caribou  were  the  prey  of  the  hunter,  and 
the  waters  fairly  teemed  with  fish. 

In  the  days  of  the  aborigines  there  was  ordinarily  no  struggle 
for  the  necessities  of  life,  for  wants  were  few  and  easily  supplied. 


24  Leading  Ecoits  of  Wisconsin  History. 

The  arrow  that  brought  food  to  the  lodge  also  furnished  furs  for 
clothing  and  for  covering  the  tepee.  Wild  berries  grew  in  abun- 
dance, and  the  sap  of  the  sugar  maple  furnished  a  palatable  luxury. 
The  men  employed  their  time  in  hunting  and  fishing,  and  in  making 
war;  the  patient  squaws  gathered  the  corn  and  without  a  murmur 
served  as  beasts  of  burden  for  the  lodge  and  camp.  In  their  un- 
derground caches  were  stored  grains  and  other  food  for  winter  use. 

Despite  the  prodigality  of  nature,  it  sometimes  happened  that 
during  the  long  winter  months  food  became  exhausted  and  that  the 
severity  of  the  season  prevented  the  hunters  from  chasing  their 
game  to  quarry.  Then  famine  stalked  through  the  camp  and 
thinned  their  ranks.  Often,  too,  the  dreaded  smallpox  swept  through 
the  tents,  and  the  incantation  of  the  medicine  man  was  powerless 
to  stop  the  pestilence.  Two  venturesome  Frenchmen,  Radisson  and 
Groseilliers,  who  wintered  with  the  Ojibwas  in  1661-62,  at  Chequa- 
megon  Bay,  experienced  a  bitter  famine  with  these  Indians.  They 
lived  on  the  bark  of  trees,  old  beaver  skins  and  other  indigestible 
provender  till  the  spring  came  and  game  could  be  secured. 

"We  became  the  very  image  of  death,"  wrote  Radisson  in  his 
journal. 

Five  hundred  of  the  Indians  died  of  starvation  that  winter. 

Most  of  the  Indian  tribes  are  known  by  the  name  which  Euro- 
peans have  given  them.  The  principal  tribes  of  Wisconsin  redmen 
have  been  known  by  many  different  names,  those  given  below  being 
chiefly  used: 

Menomonees — Folles  Avoines,   Wild  Rice   Eaters,   Malhomines. 

Chippewas— Sateurs,  Ojibv?as,   Ontehibouse. 

Poxes — Reynards,    Outagamies,    Musquakis. 

Sacs — Osaukips,   Sauks,  Sakis. 

Winnebagoes — Puans,  Puants,  Nadouessi,  Stinkards,  Ochunkoraws,  Ho- 
tanke,   Bay  Indians,   Hojiras. 

Sioux — Nadowesioux,  Dacotahs. 

Pottawattamies — Poueatamis,  Powtewatamis,  Pautawattamies. 

Mascoutens Assistaeronous,   Gens  de  Feur,   Fire  Nation. 

Kickapoos — Kikapus,  Kikapoux,  Quicapous. 

In  addition  to  these  tribes,  wandering  bands  of  Miamis,  Illinois,, 
lowas  and  other  tribes  and  sub-tribes  of  the  neighboring  states  have 
at  various  times  located  In  Wisconsin.  When  in  1648  the  fierce  Iro- 
quois ravaged  the  country  of  the  Hurons  with  pestilential  fury,  fugi- 
tives of  this  tribe  and  of  the  harried  Ottawas  found  shelter  in  the 
forest  fastness  of  Wisconsin.  Even  to  these  remote  regions  did  the 
fury  of  the  Eastern  savages  sometimes  pursue  them. 

The  Menomonees  are  the  only  original  inhabitants  of  Wisconsin 
who  still  make  their  home  here.  They  are  a  well-favored  race,  and 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  first  Frenchmen  because  their  com- 
plexions were  several  shades  lighter  than  that  of  their  neighbors. 
This  peculiarity  was  attributed  to  the  use  of  wild  rice,  or  oats,  as  a 
staple  article  of  food.  Vast  stretches  of  river  bottoms,  acres  upoa 
acres  In  extent,  were  covered  with  this  wild  rice  and  furnished  them 


The  Story  of  the  State.  25 

with  an  abundance  of  food.  The  gathering  of  the  harvest  in  Sep- 
tember, by  the  squaws,  has  been  thus  described: 

"The  harvesters  went  in  their  canoes  across  watery  fields,  shak- 
ing the  ears  right  and  left  as  they  advanced,  the  grain  falling  easily, 
if  ripe,  into  the  bark  receptacle  beneath.  To  clear  it  from  chaff  and 
strip  it  of  a  pellicle  inclosing  it,  they  put  it  to  dry  on  a  wooden  lat- 
tice above  a  small  fire,  which  was  kept  burning  for  several  days. 
When  the  rice  was  well  dried,  it  was  placed  in  a  skin  of  the  form  af 
a  bag,  which  was  then  forced  into  a  hole,  made  on  purpose,  in  the 
ground.  Then  they  tread  it  out  so  long  and  so  well  that  the  grain, 
being  freed  from  the  chaff,  was  easily  winnowed.  After  this  it  waa 
pounded  to  meal,  or  left  unpounded  and  boiled  in  water  seasoned 
with  grease.    It  thus  became  a  very  palatable  diet." 

Tradition  taught  the  Menomonees  to  believe  that  once  they 
were  animals  or  birds,  and  that  their  transformation  into  human 
beings  occurred  at  the  mouth  of  the  Menomonee  river,  at  Marinette. 
When  one  of  them  dies  a  picture  is  painted  on  a  board  representing 
the  animal  from  which  the  deceased  is  supposed  to  have  derived  his 
descent,  and  this  is  placed  at  the  head  of  his  grave.  One  of  their 
superstitions  is  that  a  fabulous  fowl  which  they  term  "the  thunder- 
bird"  hovers  over  the  clouds,  causing  lightning  by  winking  its  eyes 
and  thunder  by  flapping  its  wings.  This  superstition  is  shared  by 
other  Algonkin  tribes. 

Since  the  coming  of  white  men,  the  Mascoutens,  the  Fire  Nation, 
have  disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  They  originally  came 
to  Wisconsin  from  the  East  as  the  result  of  a  war  with  the  Eries. 
Father  Marquette  found  them  on  the  Wisconsin  river  in  a  palisaded 
village,  in  1673.  Father  Allouez  records  a  visit  some  years  before 
that  date.  It  is  believed  that  after  they  became  reduced  in  num- 
bers the  remnant  was  absorbed  by  the  neighboring  Kickapoos.  At 
any  rate,  no  trace  of  them  has  been  found  since  the  Revolutionary 
war. 

The  Kickapoos  were  claimed  by  the  Shawnees  as  a  part  of 
their  tribe.  They  occupied  a  number  of  villages  on  the  Wisconsin 
river.  In  1754,  with  the  Sioux  and  Pottawattomies,  they  waged  war 
against  the  Peorias  of  Illinois.  Many  years  ago  their  migratory 
spirit  led  them  southward,  where  they  joined  the  Creeks. 

Mystery  for  a  long  time  clouded  the  origin  of  the  Winnebagoes. 
They  had  a  tradition  that  their  ancestors  had  migrated  from  a  great 
distance,  a  region  near  the  salt  sea.  It  is  now  established  that  they 
are  an  off-shoot  of  the  Siouan  nation.  These  Indians  have  occupied 
a  large  place  in  the  history  of  Wisconsin,  from  the  time  that  Nicolet 
came  to  them  as  an  ambassador  from  New  France.  Their  name  sig- 
nifies "fetid,"  a  term  applied  by  Indians  to  salt  water.  The  French 
translated  this  term  in  another  sense,  and  called  them  Puants,  or 
Stinkards.  This  name  led  certain  writers  to  assume  that  it  had 
been  given  them  on  account  of  filthy  habits.    The  modern  Winne- 


26 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  Hiatnnj. 


bago  is  not  inaptly  so  named,  for  he  is  "the  poorest,  meanest  and 
most  ill-visaged  of  Wisconsin  Indians";  two  centuries  ago  the  Win- 
nebagoes  were  warlike  and  possessed  remarkable  physical  power. 

When  the  celebrated  traveler,  Capt.  Jonathan  Carver,  visited 
these  parts  in  1766,  he  found  a  queen  reigning  over  the  Winneba- 
goes.  The  name  of  this  remarkable  Winnebago  queen  was  Glory  of 
the  Morning.  She  was  the  widow  of  a  Fi'enchman  who  was  mortally 
wounded  at  Quebec.  Her  home  was  on  Doty's  island,  in  a  palisaded 
town  of  fifty  houses.  Plums,  grapes  and  other  fruit  grew  there  spon- 
taneously and  the  Indians  raised  great  quantities  of  Indian  corn, 
beans,  pumpkins,  watermelons  and  tobacco.  The  Indian  queen  en- 
tertained Carver  right  royally  for  four  days. 

Greatest  of  Wisconsin  hunters  were  the  lithe-limbed  Chippewas. 
They  called  themselves  Ojibwas,  or  Leapers,  meaning  people  at  the 


EiRCHBARK  Vessel,  for  JIaple  Sap. 
(Used  by  Wisconsin  Indians.) 


leaping  water,  or  falls.  They  were  found  by  the  Jesuits  in  1641  at 
the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior.  Pursued  by  the  Iroquois  westward, 
they  took  refuge  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior  and 
crowded  out  the  Sioux.  From  that  time  on  there  were  unremitting 
conflicts  between  these  Algonkin  and  Dakotan  enemies.  The  Sioux 
struggled  to  retain  their  ancient  hunting  grounds,  but  were  finally 
crowded  back  to  the  St.  Croix.  For  a  century  and  more  these  na- 
tions were  almost  uninterruptedly  at  war,  and  their  traditions  tell 
of  many  bloody  battles  fought  beneath  the  somber  pines  of  the 
north.  In  the  Chippewa  tongue  the  word  Sioux  means  "the  enemy." 
For  many  years  the  string  of  islands  in  Green  Bay  were  known 
as  the  Pottawattomie  group,  from  the  Indians  who  made  their  home 
upon  them.  These  wandering  Indians  did  not  abide  long  in  any  one 
place.  In  1641  they  were  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  fleeing  before  the  face 
of  the  Sioux.  In  1721  they  were  widely  scattered,  some  in  Wiscon- 
sin, some  near  Detroit,  some  in  Indiana.     For  a  while  they  were  at 


The  Story  of  the  State.  27 


the  site  where  Milwaukee  has  since  been  built,  and  the  English 
commander  at  Green  Bay  in  great  disgust  wrote  of  them  as  "those 
runagates  of  Milwackie,  a  horrid  set  of  refractory  Indians."  These 
Indians  joined  the  standard  of  Tecumseh  and  fought  at  Tippecanoe; 
they  were  the  ones  who  massacred  the  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn 
(Chicago). 

The  Pottawattomies  are  the  Indians  whose  traditions  gave  to  the 
poet  Longfellow  much  of  the  material  for  his  great  poem,  ''Hia- 
watha." 

Most  warlike  in  their  intercourse  with  the  French  were  the 
F^xes  and  their  confederates,  the  Sacs.  The  great  war  of  extermina- 
tion which  the  French  waged  against  them  for  many  years  is  one  of 
the  most  barbarous  epochs  of  Western  history.  This  restless  and 
fierce  tribe  was  the  only  one  of  Algonkin  origin  against  whom  the 
French  waged  war.  In  1712  the  Foxes,  with  the  Mascoutens  and 
Kickapoos,  attacked  Detroit,  but  the  French  defeated  them  with  the 
aid  of  Pottawattomie  allies. 

In  all  parts  of  the  state  survive  relics  of  Indian  occupation,  not 
only  in  the  implements  of  flint  and  stone  found  underground,  but  in 
the  names  of  lakes,  rivers  and  towns.  Some  of  these  are  herewith 
given  with  their  meaning: 

Sheboygan — A  hollow  bone;  another  version  is  that  the  original  Indian 
word,  Shawh-wa-way-kun,  expresses  a  tradition  "that  a  great  noise,  coming 
under  ground  was  heard  at  this  river." 

Waukesha — Pronounced  by  the  Indians  waw-goosh-sha,   the  little  fox. 

Pewaukee — Pronounced  Pee-wau-naw-kee,    the  flinty  place. 

Oshkosh — Named  after  a  well-known  llenomonee  chief,  signifies  brave;  an- 
other meaning  is  a  hoof. 

Manitowoc — Pronounced  Manitou-wauk,  the  home  of  the  spirits. 

Milwaukee — Pronounced  by  the  Indians  Me-ne-aw-kee,  a  rich  or  beautiful 
land. 

Kenosha — A  long  fish,  a  pike;  from.  Kenose,  long. 

Mazomanie — "Walker  on  iron,  the  name  of  a  Siou.x  chief. 

Mequon — Feather  or  quill. 

Nashotah — Twin. 

Ozaukee — Yellow  earth. 

Wausau — Far  off. 

Waupun — Early,  frontier. 

Weyauwega — A  corruption  of  the  word  "Wey-au-we-ya,"  signifying  whirl- 
ing wind. 

Wisconsin — Father  Marquette's  narration  spells  the  name  Meskousing,  after- 
wards rendered  as  Ouisconsin  by  the  euphony-loving  French.  Its  m.eaning  is 
"strong  current,"  according  to  the  general  acceptation  of  Indian  philologists, 
but  it  has  also  been  rendered  as  "great  stone." 

Kewaunee — Doubtless  a  Chippewa  word,  meaning  prairie  hen. 
Muskego — Cranberry  in  the  Pottawattomie   tongue. 

Koshkonong — Signifies  "the  lake  we  live  on."  Here  the  warriors  of  Black 
Hawk  were  in  hiding  for  a  time  during  the  Indian  war  of  1832. 

According  to  the  federal  census  of  1890  there  are  now  in  Wis- 
consin nearly  10,000  Indians.  Instead  of  roaming  around  the  state 
as  of  yore,  two-thirds  of  these  Indians  live  on  the  reservations  pro- 


28 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


vided  by  the  state.  There  are  seven  reservations  in  Wisconsin,  un- 
der two  agencies,  one  at  Green  Bay  and  one  at  La  Pointe. 

The  Indian  population  of  Wisconsin  embraces  to-day  remnants 
of  tribes  belonging  to  the  three  greatest  linguistic  stocks  on  the 
North  American  continent — Dakotan  (Siouan),  Algonkin  (Algic)  and 
Iroquoian. 

The  Oneidas  came  from  New  York  sixty  years  ago,  and  orig- 
inally belonged  to  the  great  Five  Nations.  The  Stockbridges  re- 
moved here  from  Massachusetts.  Part  of  the  Munsee  tribe  of  West- 
ern New  York  were  absorbed  by  the  Stockbridges  by  adoption.  These 
Stockbridges  were  originally  Pequods  or  Mohegans,  thus  constitut- 
ing a  connecting  link  with  some  of  the  best  known  tribes  of  New 
England.  Wisconsin  may  therefore  claim  to  possess  "the  last  of  the 
Mohicans." 


Indian  Reservations     Hunting  Grounds  of  the  Wisconsin 
IN  Wisconsin,  1897.         Indians  in  the  Seventeenth  Century, 


The  Brotherton  Indians,  in  colonial  days,  made  Long  Island 
their  home.  A  century  ago  they  adopted  the  English  language  and 
obtained  the  name  of  Brotherton  Indians  from  the  fact  that  they 
organized  themselves  into  brotherhoods  and  lived  in  a  town.  This 
was  before  their  removal  to  Wisconsin. 

The  only  Indians  who  were  ever  elected  to  seats  in  the  Wis- 
consin legislature  were  Brothertons.  They  were  named  Alonzo  and 
William  Dick,  and  they  represented  the  same  district  in  the  '50's. 

The  wandering  Indians  of  Wisconsin  are  a  shiftless  set,  who 
pick  up  a  meager  living  as  berry  pickers  in  the  cranberry  marshes 
and  blueberry  fields  of  Central  and  Northwestern  Wisconsin.  Some 
of  them  are  employed  in  the  logging  camps  of  the  woods  during  the 
winter  months. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LEGENDARY  LORE  OF  WISCONSIN  INDIANS. 

In  common  with  other  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Indians 
of  Wisconsin  possessed  many  ancient  traditions  concerning  the  story 
of  the  creation,  relative  ^o  the  significance  of  the  elements,  or  per- 
taining to  their  religious  ceremonies.  But  not  all  their  legendary 
lore  bore  such  a  wide  significance;  much  of  it  was  of  local  applica- 
tion. As  Longfellow  has  poetically  phrased  it,  in  his  introduction 
to  "The  Song  of  Hiawatha": 

Should  you  ask  me  whence  these  stories? 

Whence  these  legends  and  traditions. 

With  the  odors  of  the  forest, 

With  the  dew  and  damp  of  meadows, 
"With  the  curling  smoke  of  wigwams, 

With  the  rushing  of  great  rivers, 

With  their  frequent  repetitions. 

And  their  wild  reverberations 

As  of  thunder  in  the  mountains? 

I  should  answer,  I  should  tell  you, 
"From  the  forests  and  the  prairies, 

From  the  great  lakes  of  the  Northland, 

From  the  land  of  the  Ojibways, 

From  the  land  of  the  Dacotahs, 

From  the  mountains,  moors  and  fenlands, 

Where  the  heron,  the  Shuh-shuh-gah, 

Feeds  among  the  reeds  and  rushes; 

In  the  birds'-nests  of  the  forest, 

In  the  lodges  of  the  beaver. 

In  the  hoof-prints  of  the  bison. 

In  the  eyry  of  the  eagle!" 

Indian  legends  abound  concerning  the  curious  rock  formation 
along  Lake  Superior,  at  the  dalles  of  the  St.  Croix  and  Wisconsin 
and  at  Devil's  Lake. 

Most  beautifully  told  of  all  Indian  legends  is  "The  Song  of  Hia- 
watha." The  scene  of  this  Indian  Edda,  as  it  has  been  termed,  is 
among  the  Ojibwas  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  The 
author  has  availed  himself  of  a  poet's  license,  and  in  the  musical 
narrative  has  interwoven  many  curious  legends  which  were  not  cur- 
rent among  the  Indians  of  Wisconsin  and  the  upper  peninsula  of 
Michigan.  In  the  song,  the  adoption  of  the  calumet — the  univers- 
ally recognized  symbol  of  peace  among  the  Indians — is  given  as  hav- 
ing occurred  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  the  northwestern  part  of 
the  state.  The  story  as  told  by  Longfellow  is  that  Gitche  Manito, 
the  mighty,  called  all  the  nations  together  in  council 

On  the  Mountains  of  the  Prairie, 
On  the  great  Red  Pipestone  Quarry. 

2» 


30  Leading  Eients  of  Wisconsin  History. 

The  tribes  came  from  the  remote  corners  of  the  land,  their  faces 
set  in  stern  defiance,  "in  their  hearts  the  feud  of  ages,  the  hereditary 
hatred,  the  ancestral  thirst  for  vengeance."  The  great  Gitche 
Manito  looked  upon  his  quarreling  children  with  compassion. 

From  the  old  stone  of  the  quarry 
With  his  hand  he  broke  a  fragment, 
Moulded  it  into  a  pipe-head. 
Shaped  and  fashioned  it  with  figures; 
From  the  margin  of  the  river 
Took  a  long  reed  for  a  pipe-stem, 
With  its  dark-green  leaves  upon  it; 
Filled  the  pipe  with  bark  of  willow. 
With  the  bark  of  the  red  willow; 
Breathed  upon  the  neighboring  forest, 
Made  its  great  boughs  chafe  together. 
Till  in  flame  they  burst  and  kindled. 

He  stretched  his  right  hand  over  them  to  subdue  their  stubborn 
natures;  he  allayed  their  thirst  and  fever,  he  spoke  to  them  words  of 
wisdom  and  of  warning.  He  told  them  to  bathe  in  the  stream  before 
them,  to  wash  the  warpaint  from  their  faces  and  the  blood-stains 
from  their  fingers;  then  to  bury  their  war-clubs  and  weapons,  and 
from  the  red  stone  of  the  quarry  to  fashion  pipes  of  peace. 
They  heeded  the  counsel  thus  given: 

And  in  silence  all  the  warriors 
Broke  the  red  stone  of  the  quarry, 
Smoothed  and  formed  it  into  peace-pipes. 
Broke  the  long  reeds  by  the  river. 
Decked  them  with  their  brightest  feathers. 
And  departed  each  one  homeward. 

In  his  "Letters  and  Notes"  Catlin  has  given  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  the  Red  Pipestone  quarry,  with  its  legend  of  the  origin  of 
the  peace-pipe.  Longfellow's  version  is  substantially  the  same.  Cat- 
lin concludes  the  legend  thus: 

"At  the  last  whiff  of  his  pipe,  his  head  went  into  a  great  cloud, 
and  the  whole  surface  of  the  rock  for  several  miles  was  melted  and 
glazed;  two  great  ovens  were  opened  beneath,  and  two  women  en- 
tered them  in  a  blaze  of  fire.  They  are  heard  there  yet  answering 
to  the  invocations  of  high  priests  or  medicine  men,  who  consult 
them  when  they  are  visitors  to  this  sacred  place." 

In  Emerson's  "Indian  Myths"  is  given  the  Winnebago  tradition 
of  the  origin  of  man:  "Having  created  the  earth  and  the  grass  and 
the  trees,  the  Great  Spirit  took  a  piece  out  of  his  heart,  near  which 
had  been  taken  the  earth,  and  formed  the  fragmant  into  a  man.  The 
woman  then  was  made,  but  a  bit  of  flesh  sufiiced  for  her;  therefore 
it  is  that  man  became  great  in  wisdom,  but  the  woman  very  much 
wanting  in  sense.  To  the  man  was  given  the  tobacco  seed,  that, 
thrown  upon  the  fire,  it  might  propitiate  the  messenger — manittos  to 
convey  prayers  or  supplicaitions;  to  the  woman  a  seed  of  every  kind 
of  grain  was  given,  and  to  her  were  indicated  the  roots  and  herbs  tor 
medicine.    Now  the  Great  Spirit  commanded  the  two  to  look  down; 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


31 


and  they  looked  down,  when  lo!  there  stood  a  child  between  them. 
Enjoining  the  pair  to  take  care  of  all  the  children  they  might  ob- 
tain in  the  future,  he  created  the  male  and  female  the  first  parents 
of  all  tribes  upon  the  earth.  He  then  informed  them,  in  the  Win- 
nebago language,  that  they  should  live  in  the  center  of  the  earth. 
The  spirit  then  created  the  beasts  and  birds,  for  the  use  of  all  man- 
kind'; but  the  tobacco  and  fire  were  given  to  the  Winnebagoes. ' 

The  Indians  hold  the  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  in  great  veneration. 
"They  esteem  it  so  important  and  divine  a  grain,"  says  Schoolcraft, 
"that  their  story-tellers  invented  various  tales,  in  which  this  idea 


Indian  Women  Gathering  Wild   Rice. 
(After  Schoolcraft.) 


Is  symbolized  under  the  form  of  a  special  gift  from  the  Great  Spirit. 
The  Ojibwa-Algonkins,  who  call  it  Mon-da-min,  that  is,  the  spirit's 
grain  or  berry,  have  a  pretty  story  of  this  kind,  in  which  the  stalk 
in  full  tassel  is  represented  as  descending  from  the  sky,  under  the 
guise  of  a  handsome  youth,  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  a  young 
man.  It  is  well  known  that  corn-planting  and  corn-gathering  are 
left  entirely  to  the  females  and  children,  and  a  few  superannuated 
old  men.  It  is  not  generally  known,  perhaps,  that  this  labor  is  not 
compulsory,  and  that  it  is  assumed  by  the  females  as  a  just  equiva- 
lent, in  their  view,  for  the  onerous  and  continuous  labor  of  the  other 
sex  in  providing  meats,  and  skins  for  clothing,  by  the  chase,  and  in 


32  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

defending  their  villages  against  their  enemies,  and  keeping  intruders 
off  their  territories.  A  good  Indian  housewife  deems  this  a  part  of 
her  prerogative  and  prides  herself  to  have  a  store  of  corn  to  exer- 
cise her  hospitality." 

Schoolcraft  also  relates  a  custom  respecting  corn-planting  show- 
ing a  singular  belief  in  the  mj'sterious  influence  exercised  by  women 
over  the  vegetable  and  insect  creation. 

"It  was  the  practice  of  the  hunter's  wife,  when  the  field  of  corn 
had  been  planted,  to  choose  the  first  dark  or  overclouded  evening 
to  perform  a  secret  circuit,  sans  habillement,  around  the  field.  For 
this  purpose  she  slipped  out  of  the  lodge  in  the  evening,  unobserved, 
to  some  obscure  nook,  where  she  completelj-  disrobed.  Then  taking 
her  matchecota,  or  principal  garment,  in  one  hand,  she  dragged  it 
around  the  field.  This  was  thought  to  insure  a  prolific  crop,  and  to 
prevent  the  assault  of  insects  and  worms  upon  the  grain.  It  was 
supposed  they  could  not  creep  over  the  charmed  line." 

For  many  years  there  lived  on  the  eastern  bank  of  Green  Bay 
an  old  Indian  woman  who  was  believed  to  have  long  passed  the 
century  mile-stone  of  her  life.  This  old  woman  was  fond  of  telling 
a  legend  associated  with  a  place  on  the  shore  of  the  bay,  known  as 
Red  Banks,  an  interesting  earth-work  resembling  a  fortification.  Its 
location  at  the  top  of  a  precipice  a  hundred  feet  high,  accessible 
from  the  water  by  means  of  a  protected  passage  of  steps  cut  into  the 
clay,  led  to  manj'  surmises.  Hon.  Charles  D.  Robinson,  a  pioneer 
editor  of  Green  Bay,  translated  the  story  associated  with  Red  Banks, 
as  told  to  him  by  the  withered  old  woman.  This  is  the  legend,  in  a 
condensed  form: 

"It  was  long  ago,  I  was  so  high" — placing  her  hand  about  three 
feet  from  the  ground — "when  my  grandfather  told  me  the  story. 
The  Sauks  and  Outagamies  lived  in  the  old  fort  at  the  Red  Banks. 
The  forests  eastward  were  full  of  deer,  the  waters  of  the  bay  were 
full  of  fish,  and  they  possessed  the  whole.  We  (the  Menomonees) 
lived  over  the  bay.  We  sent  down  the  lakes,  inviting  the  other 
tribes  to  come  up  and  help  us  drive  out  the  Sauks  and  Outagamies. 
They  came  in  canoes,  the  Chippewas,  Pottawattomies  and  Ottawas 
and  many  more.  You  see  how  wide  the  bay  is;  their  canoes  stretched 
half  way  across.  The  bay  was  half  full  of  canoes  and  each  canoe 
was  full  of  fighting  men.  They  landed  here  at  the  Red  river,  and 
for  two  miles  along  the  beach  their  canoes  were  so  thick  that  no 
more  could  be  crowded  in." 

The  old  woman  described  how  the  doomed  fort  was  surrounded 
and  how  just  before  daylight  the  great  battle  began.  The  besieged 
fought  bravely,  but  they  had  no  water,  for  the  supply  was  cut  off 
by  the  warriors  along  the  beach.  They  tried  in  every  way  to  ob- 
tain it.  Vessels  attached  to  cords  were  let  down  to  the  water  at 
night,  but  the  cords  were  cut  before  the  vessels  could  be  drawn  up. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  33 

"Come  down  and  drink!"  cried  the  Menomonees.  "Here  is  plenty 
of  water,  if  you  dare  to  come  down  and  get  it." 

These  taunts  and  the  great  necessity  of  the  besieged  made  that 
narrow  way  an  avenue  of  death,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  heat  of 
a  burning  sun  and  the  dreadful  suffering  for  want  of  water  became 
unendurable.  A  few  drops  of  rain  fell  once,  but  only  enough  to 
tantalize  those  who  were  perishing  in  sight  of  the  water  that 
sparkled  almost  within  reach.  At  length,  one  of  the  young  chiefs 
had  a  dream,  after  fasting  strictly  for  ten  days.    He  told  it  thus: 

"Listen!  last  night  there  stood  by  me  the  form  of  a  young  man 
clothed  in  white,  who  said:  'Fear  not;  I  will  deliver  you.  At  mid- 
night I  will  cast  a  deep  sleep  upon  your  enemies.  Then  go  forth 
boldly  and  silently,  and  you  shall  escape.'  " 

That  night  an  unusual  silence  prevailed  in  the  camp  of  the 
enemy.  Stealthily  the  wearied  besiegers  passed  out  and  fled.  Only 
a  few,  who  disbelieved  the  vision,  remained.  They  were  massacred 
with  fierce  barbarity,  when  next  morning  the  besieging  tribes  awoke 
from  their  strange  slumbers  to  find  that  their  prey  was  gone. 

The  legend  of  the  red  swan  has  been  told  by  several  chroniclers 
of  Indian  lore.  Its  most  interesting  form  is  that  imparted  to  it  by 
Mrs.  H.  S.  Baird,  in  her  "Early  Recollections."  She  was  a  native 
of  Prairie  du  Chien  and  was  the  descendant  of  Returning  Cloud,  a 
distinguished  Ottawa  chief.  For  many  years  Mrs.  Baird  made  Green 
Bay  her  home.  This  is  the  legend  of  the  red  swan,  in  abbreviated 
form,  beginning,  like  the  juvenile  fairy  tale: 

Once  upon  a  time  a  young  man  was  out  hunting.  He  came  to 
the  shore  of  a  beautiful  lake,  and  there  he  saw  floating  a  red  swan. 
As  he  shot,  the  swan  flew  toward  the  west,  leaving  in  its  trail  an  ex- 
quisitely-hued  radiance.  This  the  young  man  followed,  and  at  night- 
fall came  to  a  wigwam  where  dwelt  an  old  man  and  his  daughter. 
The  old  man  was  making  bows  and  arrows,  and  the  daughter  was 
making  moccasins.  He  was  hospitably  entertained.  The  next  morn- 
ing the  young  hunter  could  still  see  the  red  streak  marking  the  path- 
way of  the  swan.  He  turned  to  the  old  man  and  begged  to  be  given 
the  daughter  as  wife. 

"Prove  yourself  worthy  of  her  by  overtaking  the  swan,"  was  the 
reply.    "If  you  do  this,  she  is  yours." 

Making  an  early  start,  the  hunter  followed  the  track  of  the  swan 
all  day.  At  night  he  came  to  another  wigwam  occupied  by  an  old 
man  and  his  daughter.  He  received  the  same  greeting  and  treat- 
ment as  before,  and  the  wooing  of  the  daughter  met  with  similar 
response. 

Nine  successive  days  passed  by,  each  offering  the  same  circum- 
stances and  conditions,  save  only  that  each  daughter  was  more 
beautiful  than  the  last  met,  and  that  the  swan  had  passed  at  a  later 
liour  each  day. 


34  Leading  Events  of  Wiscotisin  History. 

On  the  tenth  day  the  sky  was  crimson  in  its  splendor.  Again  at 
twilight  he  came  to  a  wigwam.  An  old  man  sat  alone,  muttering 
Btrange  words  and  boiling  roots  and  herbs  in  a  cauldron. 

"Who  gave  you  permission  to  enter  here  and  interrupt  me?"  he 
asked  in  a  tone  of  annoyance. 

The  young  hunter  hastened  to  explain.  He  told  his  adventures 
of  the  past  ten  days,  and  asked  whether  the  red  swan  had  passed. 

The  old  man  grew  uneasy,  and  the  young  man  now  perceived 
that  the  wigwam  was  all  aglow  and  luminous  with  a  warm,  bright 
light. 

In  the  morning  he  prepared  to  pursue  the  swan,  but  the  old  man 
said  to  him: 

"You  have  proved  yourself  brave;  now  you  shall  be  rewarded." 

Opening  the  mat  door  he  brought  out  the  red  swan,  his  daugh- 
ter, the  most  beautiful  maiden  the  youth  had  ever  beheld. 

"Take  her,"  said  the  old  man,  "to  your  own  land  and  hunting 
grounds,  and  be  happy.     Gitchie  Mauitou  will  watch  over  you." 

The  legend  of  the  "Spirit  of  the  Corn"  is  current  among  the  In- 
dians of  the  Lake  Superior  country.  It  was  told  to  the  German 
traveler.  Kohl,  and  a  translation  of  his  narrative  reads  thus: 

Once  a  tribe  of  Indians  had  an  extraordinary  corn  year.  On 
their  small  fields  they  had  grown  an  uncommon  quantity  of  maize. 
But  this  rendered  them  very  arrogant  and  extravagant.  They  de- 
voured more  than  they  wanted;  they  let  the  corn  lie  about  and  rot. 
The  children  fought  with  the  stalks  like  sticks  and  threw  them  in 
the  mud. 

At  length  they  grew  so  surfeited  of  the  excellent  corn  that  they 
went  off  hunting,  after  cacheing  the  remainder  of  their  grain  stores. 
But  they  secured  no  game.  Soon  hunger  and  need  broke  out  and 
they  remembered  their  corn.  They  found  that  the  whole  store  had 
been  devoured  by  mice.  They  saw  that  a  powerful  destiny  had  de- 
clared against  them. 

One  of  the  old  men  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  waste  of  the 
golden  corn,  while  walking  solitary  in  the  forest,  came  to  a  birch 
bark  lodge.  Within  it  was  a  miserable  looking  manikin,  stretched 
out  on  dirty,  much  worn  hides. 

"See,"  said  the  Spirit  of  the  Corn,  in  a  mournful  voice,  "what  a 
wretched  condition  these  men  have  placed  me  in.  They  Insulted 
me  in  the  most  ungrateful  manner.  This  is  the  cause  of  their  own 
misfortune  and  present  want.  I  have  no  water  in  my  jug  and  no 
clothes;  not  even  a  leaf  to  protect  me  from  the  cold.  Weeds  and 
wild  plants  grow  in  my  garden,  and  the  savage  beasts  of  the  forest 
prowl  around  me.     Go  back  and  tell  this  to  thy  people." 

When  the  good  Indian  told  his  people  the  wretched  condition  in 
which  he  had  found  the  good  Spirit  of  the  Corn,  they  realized  that 
their  own  culpable  extravagance  was  the  cause  of  their  misfortune. 


M 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


35 


They  hurried  home  to  their  uncultivated  and  weed-choked  gardens. 
They  sacrificed  a  dog  to  the  Spirit  of  the  Com.  A  little  corn  which 
the  mice  had  not  eaten  served  for  a  fresh  sowing.  They  managed 
to  get  on  somehow  till  the  next  summer,  and  then  had  a  good 
harvest;  they  used  it  more  carefully,  and  then  their  hunting  luck 
returned. 

Among  the  Ojibwas  on  Lake  Superior,  the  months  have  the  fol- 
lowing names  and  meanings: 

January — The  moon  of  the  spirits. 

February — The  moon  of  the  suckers,  because  those  fish  begin  going  up  the 
river  then. 

March — The  moon  of  the  snow-crust,  because  then  the  sun  covers  the  top 
of  the  snow  with  a  firm  crust,  and  it  is  a  good  time  to  travel. 

April — The  moon  for  breaking  the  snow-shoes,  because  then  the  snow  dis- 
appears and  the  snow-shoes  are  often  broken. 

May — The  moon  of  the  flowers. 

June — Strawberry  moon. 

July — Raspberry  moon. 

August — Whortleberry  moon. 

September — The  moon  of  the  wild-rice. 

Octobei^The  moon  of  the  falling  leaf. 

November — The  freezing  moon. 

December — The  moon  of  little  spirits. 


An    Ojibwa   Family    Record. 

(Loon-Foot  had  his  family  genealogical  record  for  nine  generations.  The 
above  strokes,  crosses  and  points  were  made  on  a  piece  of  birch-bark,  each 
division  representing  one  generation  and  his  memory  supplying  the  names.) 


All  the  Indians  cannot  divide  the  moon  with  equal  precision,  and 
disputes  are  prolific  between  the  old  men,  as  they  argue  with  comi- 
cal seriousness  as  to  what  moon  they  are  in. 

The  superstitions  of  the  Sioux,  who  dwelt  along  the  St.  Croix 
river  were  similar  to  those  of  the  Ojibwas  (Chippewas)  as  regards 
the  various  moons.  It  was  their  belief  that  the  material  of  which 
the  moon  is  made  is  edible;  when  the  moon  is  full,  a  legion  of  mice 
commence  nibbling  at  it,  and  finally  it  Is  consumed.  Then  a  new 
moon  begins  to  grow,  to  be  in  turn  devoured  by  the  mice.  The 
Sioux  calendar  is  thus  given: 


36  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

January — "Witeri,  the  hard  moon. 

February — Wicatawi,  the  raccoon  moon. 

March — Istawicayazanwi,  the  sore-eyed  moon. 

April — Magaokadiwi,  the  moon  in  which  the  geese  lay  eggs. 

May — Mojupiwi,  the  planting  moon. 

June — Wajustecasawi,  the  moon  when  the  strawberries  are  red. 

July — Wasunpawi,  the  moon  when  the  geese  shed  their  feathers. 

August — Wasutonwi,  the  harvest  moon. 

September — Psinhnaktuwi,  the  moon  when  rice  is  laid  up  to  dry. 

October — Wazupiwi,  the  drying  rice  moon. 

November — Takiyurawi,  the  deer-rutting  moon. 

December — Tahecapsunwi,  the  moon  when  the  deer  shed  their  horns. 

It  is  curious  how  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  among  the  In- 
dians have  served  to  weave  familiar  bible  stories  into  their  original 
legends.  Thus  the  story  of  the  creation,  which  now  obtains  among 
certain  of  the  reservation  bands  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state, 
is  a  faithful  adaptation  of  the  biblical  story,  and  the  forbidden  fruit 
episode  In  Paradise  has  likewise  been  given  a  red  man's  version. 
The  Wisconsin  Indians  locate  this  happening  on  Lac  du  Flambeau, 
in  Vilas  county.  The  first  man  and  his  squaw,  Mani,  answering  to 
the  Adam  and  Eve  of  the  bible  story,  lived  on  a  beautiful  island  in 
this  lake.  In  the  garden  grew  the  most  delicious  fruits  and  there 
were  large,  fine  fields,  wherein  grew  Indian  corn  and  beans.  The 
Great  Spirit  pointed  out  one  tree  whose  fruit  they  must  not  eat. 
One  day  Mani  heard  a  seductive  voice  say: 

"Mani,  Mani,  why  dost  thou  not  eat  of  this  beautiful  fruit;  it 
will  make  thy  heart  glad." 

The  fruit  smelled  pleasantly  and  Mani  licked  it  a  little.  Then 
she  swallowed  it,  and  felt  as  if  intoxicated.  When  her  husband 
came  she  persuaded  him  to  eat  also  of  the  fruit.  Immediately  the 
beautiful  silver  scales  with  which  they  had  been  covered  fell  off — 
only  twenty  of  these  scales  remained,  but  they  lost  their  brilliancy, 
ten  on  the  fingers  and  ten  on  the  toes. 

They  were  banished  from  the  beautiful  isle,  which  immediately 
grew  wild.  The  Gitche  Manito  bore  them  in  his  canoe  to  the  shore 
of  Lac  du  Flambeau.  But  he  had  compassion  on  them.  He  gave  the 
man  bow  and  arrow,  and  told  him  he  would  find  animals,  which  were 
called  deer.  These  he  was  to  shoot,  and  Mani  would  get  ready  the 
meat  for  him  and  convert  the  hide  into  moccasins  and  clothing. 

There  is  a  legend  that  tells  how  Ashland  bay  derived  its  name 
from  an  Indian  word  that  in  its  original  form  meant  "far-stretching 
breakers." 

Menabosho,  pursuing  the  Great  Beaver  from  the  St.  Mary's  river 
(where  he  broke  his  dams  and  thus  formed  the  upper  and  lower 
rapids)  through  his  pond  (Lake  Superior)  drove  him  into  Ashland 
bay.  To  secure  his  prey,  Menabosho  built  a  long  dam  from  the 
south  shore  to  Madaline  island.  While  engaged  in  this  work  he 
threw  handfuls  of  earth  behind  him  into  the  outer  lake,  where  they 
remain  as  the  smaller  Apostle  islands. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  37 

The  dam  being  finished,  Menabosho,  sure  of  having  cornered  his 
game,  entered  through  the  north  channel,  between  Madeline  island 
and  Bayfield  peninsula,  but  behold!  the  Great  Beaver,  digging  out 
the  south  channel,  between  Madaline  island  and  Shagawamikon 
point,  broke  through  Menabosho's  dam,  and  escaped. 

Capt.  Dwight  H.  Kelton,  U.  S.  A.,  who  tells  this  story,  adds  this 
explanation:  "The  width  of  the  south  channel  is  now  two  and  a 
half  miles;  but  the  older  inhabitants  say  that  formerly  a  point  of 
land,  extending  from  the  western  extremity  of  the  island  toward 
Shagawamikon,  made  it  much  narrower.  At  one  time,  according  to 
tradition,  the  distance  was  so  short  that  an  arrow  could  be  shot 
across.  The  neck  of  the  long  point  has  been  washed  through  within 
the  last  thirty  years." 


PART  n. 


IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  THE  EXPLORERS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHEN  WISCONSIN  WAS  DISCOVERED. 

As  THE  quest  of  Columbus  for  a  short  route  to  the  Indies  led  to 
the  discovery  of  a  continent,  so  the  search  for  a  short  highway  to 
the  fabled  riches  of  China  and  Japan — ^the  Cathay  and  Zipango  of 
Marco  Polo — brought  an  intrepid  discoverer  to  the  heart  of  that 
continent,  Wisconsin.  Here  mingle  the  waters  that  through  devious 
channels  later  flow"  in  opposite  directions — some  swelling  that  vast 
volume  that  pours  from  the  mighty  Mississippi  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  at  the  rate  of  twenty  million  of  millions  cubic  feet  of  water 
annually;  others  passing  through  the  chain  of  lakes  Into  the  St. 
Lawrence,  thence  into  the  frozen  regions  of  the  North  Atlantic. 

It  was  a  period  when  the  great  highways  of  commerce  were  those 
provided  by  nature — the  rivers  and  the  lakes.  The  upper  Mississippi 
had  not  been  discovered  and  nothing  was  known  of  the  vast  conti- 
nent that  stretched  westward.  Men  believed  that  a  few  days'  jour- 
ney would  take  thein  to  its  limits — 'perhaps  to  China.  When  the 
pioneer  white  man  steered  his  frail  birch-bark  canoe  along  the 
western  shore  of  Green  Bay,  he  thought  he  had  reached  China.  His 
coming  occurred  in  the  year  1634.  This  was  two  years  before  Roger 
Williams  founded  his  Rhode  Island  colony;  but  a  year  after  the  be- 
ginnings of  Connecticut  were  made;  only  twenty-seven  years  after 
the  founding  of  the  first  permanent  English  settlement,  that  at 
Jamestown,  and  but  fourteen  years  later  than  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  Rock. 

A  Parisian  mail  carrier's  son  was  the  first  white  man  to  step  up- 
on Wisconsin  soil.  The  year  was  1634,  and  King  Louis  XIII.  reigned 
as  monarch  of  Prance.  Thus,  by  the  law  of  nations  relating  to  new 
discoveries,  the  son  of  Mary  de  Medici  became  the  first  sovereign 
of  Wisconsin. 

Jean  Nicolet  entered  what  now  has  become  known  as  the  Old 
Northwest  through  its  natural  gateway,  the  great  arm  of  Lake 
Michigan  that  bears  the  name  Green  Bay.  A  hundred  years  before, 
the  French  had  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  started  their  first 
settlement  in  Canada.  Rigorous  winters  and  savage  enmity  com- 
bined with  other  untoward  circumstances  to  render  their  foothold  at 
Montreal  insecure,  and  exploration  westward  was  a  slow  process.  At 
the  end  of  a  century  they  had  progressed  no  further  than  Lake 
Huron.    No  Frenchman  had  ventured  into  the  forest  fastnesses  of 


42 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Minnesota,  Indiana  or  Ohio.  Nothing  was 
known  as  to  the  extent  of  the  mysterious  region  that  stretched 
westward,  though  few  men  believed  that  there  was  more  than  a  nar- 
row strip  between  the  great  lakes  and  the  China  sea.  The  delusion 
was  common  that  a  river  would  be  found  leading  to  the  Celestial  em- 
pire. Thus  the  dream  of  Columbus  survived  in  modified  form  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  after  the  caravel  of  the  explorer  had  grated  its 
keel  on  the  shore  of  Watling's  island. 

From  time  to  time  wandering  Indians  brought  to  the  eager  list- 
eners at  Quebec  tales  of  the  unknown  western  region.  These  but 
made  more  keen  the  desire  to  reach  the  riches  of  Cathay  thitherward; 
but  the  vague  accounts  of  the  Indians  were  distorted  and  misappre- 


SAML'EL   de    Champlaix. 

The  Governor  of  New  France,  Who  Sent  Nicolet  to  the  Winnebagoes  of  Wisconsin 
as  His  Ambassador. 


hended.  How  little  was  actually  known  of  this  region  is  shown  by 
a  map  carefully  drawn  by  Champlain,  governor  of  New  France,  two 
years  before  Nicolet  started  on  his  quest.  On  it  Green  Bay  is  placed 
north  of  Lake  Superior,  and  Lakes  Huron  and  Ontario  are  connected 
directly.  Lake  Michigan  is  not  on  his  map  unless  his  Lac  des 
Puants — the  usual  designation  for  Green  Bay — is  intended  to  repre- 
sent it.  An  island  designated  as  the  region  of  copper  mines  he 
places  in  Green  Bay.  Niagara  Falls  he  had  never  seen  and  his  sup- 
position was  that  it  was  a  rapid  in  the  river. 

Though  he  had  mistakenly  located  copper  mines  on  a  Green  Bay 
Island,  he  knew  positively  of  the  existence  of  the  metal,  for  an  In- 
dian had  brought  him  a  lump  of  the  virgin  ore.  Other  Indians,  who 
were  wont  to  come  down  the  Ottawa  river  in  their  flotillas  of  canoes 


The  Story  of  the  State.  43 


to  trade  with  the  Frenchmen,  had  told  him  of  a  nation  dwelling 
Bome  distance  westward  who  were  known  as  the  "People  of  the  Sea." 
These  were  the  Wisconsin  Winnebagoes,  who  years  before  had  mi- 
grated to  the  region  of  the  lake  that  now  bears  their  tribal  name,  but 
Champlain  believed  they  were  Chinamen. 

The  fanciful  description  of  this  people  given  by  his  Indian  vis- 
itors and  the  fact  that  they  made  their  habitation  on  the  shores  of  a 
"great  water"  confirmed  Champlain  in  his  belief  that  he  had  at  last 
found  the  long-sought  clue  to  the  route  to  China.  He  chose  Jean 
Nicolet  as  his  ambassador.  Nicolet  had  lived  for  a  number  of  years 
in  the  lodges  of  the  Algohkin  tribes,  and  knew  their  languages.  He 
was  accustomed  to  the  fatigues  and  privations  of  wilderness  life,  and 
the  lore  of  the  woods  was  a  lesson  he  had  conned  fully  as  well  as  any 
of  his  dusky  companions.  In  July  of  the  year  1634  he  started  on  his 
journey,  accompanied  by  some  Jesuit  priests  who  were  about  to  es- 
tablish a  mission  in  the  Huron  country  and  were  glad  to  avail  them- 
selves of  Nicolet's  guidance.  At  the  Isle  de  Allumettes  they  parted, 
and  Nicolet  pursued  his  way  with  Indian  companions  only.  A  glance 
at  the  map  is  necessary  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  journey  thus  made 
in  a  canoe.  Starting  from  Quebec  and  leaving  the  St.  Lawrence  at 
its  junction  with  the  Ottawa,  Nicolet  ascended  this  stream  to  the 
tributary  whose  Indian  name,  Mattawin,  signifies  "Home  of  the 
Beaver";  thence  Lake  Nipissing  was  reached  by  means  of  a. narrow 
passage  or  "carry."  Next  his  canoe  floated  down  the  French  river 
into  Georgian  bay  and  Lake  Huron.  He  passed  the  Manitoulin  isl- 
ands, skirted  the  shore  of  the  great  lake  and  came  to  the  place 
where  dwelt  the  "People  of  the  Falls,"  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  familiar 
on  modern  maps.  Here  he  and  his  seven  Hurons  rested.  But  a  few 
miles  westward  was  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  largest  fresh  water 
body  in  the  world,  Lake  Superior.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show 
that  Nicolet  went  nearer  this  lake  than  the  sault,  or  falls.  Instead 
he  seemes  to  have  rested  at  the  falls  with  his  seven  Huron  com- 
panions, and  then  retraced  his  way  down  the  strait  and  entered  Lake 
Michigan  through  the  Mackinac  passage.  For  the  first  time  a  white 
man  saw  the  broad  surface  of  this  inland  sea.  Along  its  northern 
shore  his  canoe  was  paddled  by  his  dusky  oarsmen.  At  the  bay  de 
Noquet  he  briefly  tarried,  and  finally  he  came  to  the  Menomonee 
where  that  river  pours  into  Green  Bay. 

At  last  Nicolet  was  on  Wisconsin  soil.  He  believed  himself  to 
be  on  the  threshold  of  China.  The  Menomonees,  who  made  their 
habitation  here,  were  of  a  lighter  complexion  than  the  Indians  Nico- 
let knew.  Some  writers  have  ascribed  this  circumstance  to  the  us« 
of  wild  rice  by  these  Indians  as  a  staple  article  of  diet.  Champlain's 
messenger  learned  that  but  a  short  journey  would  now  bring  him  to 
the  land  of  the  Winnebagoes.  He  sent  one  of  his  Hurons  to  apprise 
the  supposed  celestials  of  his  coming  and  prepared  to  meet  them  in 


44 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


becoming  style.  For  this  purpose  he  had  brought  a  robe  of  gorge- 
ous hue,  like  unto  Joseph's  in  its  resplendent  coloring.  The  early 
French  narrative,  known  as  the  Vimont  Relation,  describes  how 
Nicolet's  mandarin  dress  was  besprinkled  with  birds  of  bright 
plumage  and  flowers  of  many  hues,  in  woven  work. 

If  Nicolet  erred  in  his  conception  of  the  Winnebagoes,  this  tribe 
of  red  men  likewise  formed  erroneous  notions  concerning  their  vis- 
itor. They  believed  him  a  Manitou  or  spirit,  an  impression  that 
was  accentuated  when  he  advanced  into  their  midst  with  a  pistol 


Champlain's  Map  of  the  Wisconsin  Region,  1632. 
The  "Father  of  New  France"  based  the  old  map  of  which  the  above  is  a 
section  in  outline — the  first  which  aims  to  define  the  region  of  the  great  lakes — 
on  the  accounts  of  the  Indians  who  came  in  flotillas  to  Canada  to  trade  with  him. 
On  this  map  Lake  Superior  is  designated  as  "Grand  Lac,"  Lake  Huron  as  "Mer 
Douce."  Green  Bay  he  designates  as  the  region  where  then  lived  the  "Nation 
des  Puans"  (Winnebagoes),  and  locates  this  sheet  of  water  north  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior. A  large  island  in  this  bay,  or  lake,  as  he  calls  it,  is  given  as  the  location 
of  great  copper  mines.  Lake  Michigan  does  not  exist  on  his  map,  though  some 
authorities  hold  that  he  meant  Green  Bay  to  represent  Lake  Michigan.  The  map 
is  a  curious  specimen  of  early  geographical  misconceptions.  In  the  above  repro- 
duction the  English  synonyms  are  given  for  the  French  names  put  down  by 
Champlain. 


in  each  hand,  the  contents  of  which  he  discharged  in  the  air  with 
great  dramatic  effect.  He  was  very  much  disappointed  to  learn, 
however,  that  the  "People  of  the  Sea,"  in  quest  of  whom  he  had  un- 
dertaken his  long  and  arduous  canoe  voyage,  wore  moccasins  and 
other  savage  apparel  in  place  of  the  product  of  the  loom.  With  true 
French  adaptability  he  made  the  best  of  the  situation  and  pro- 
ceeded to  win  to  the  French  interest  these  nations  of  the  West.  He 
urged  them  to  come  to  Montreal  for  barter,  and  not  to  engage  in 
war  with  the  nations  friendly  to  the  French. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  45 

The  coming  of  the  wonderful  man  caused  a  great  gathering  of 
Indians.  One  account  estimates  the  number  of  people  wno  came 
to  greet  him  at  5,000,  but  later  accounts  considerably  reduced  this 
undoubted  exaggeration.  The  Relation  heretofore  quoted  mentions 
that  a  great  feast  was  held.  Judging  from  the  quantity  of  pro- 
visions consumed,  the  number  of  warriors  must  have  been  large  and 
their  appetities  considerably  sharpened.  There  were  consumed.  If 
the  account  of  the  feast  is  true,  more  than  one  hundred  beavers, 
besides  many  deer  and  other  forest  viands  secured  by  the  chase. 

When  he  left  the  Winnebagoes,  Nicolet  proceeded  up  the  Fox 
river,  journeying  through  the  great  regions  of  wild  rice  marshes, 
till  he  came  to  the  Mascoutens.  He  was  now  but  a  short  distance 
from  the  Wisconsin  river.  A  journey  of  but  three  days  would  have 
taken  him  to  it,  and  thence  he  could  have  drifted  down  to  the  "great 
water."  Instead,  he  proceeded  southward  towards  the  Illinois  coun- 
try, and  thus  missed  discovering  the  upper  Mississippi.  It  was  not 
till  thirty-nine  years  later  that  Joliet  and  his  party  reached  the 
Mississippi. 

After  a  sojourn  among  the  Illinois  and  kindred  tribes,  Nicolet 
returned  to  the  Green  Bay  country,  doubtless  along  the  western 
coast  of  Lake  Michigan — Lac  Illinois  and  Lac  Dauphin  as  it  appears 
on  the  early  maps.  He  visited  the  Pottawattomies  who  dwelt  on  the 
islands  in  the  bay,  and  when  spring  thawed  the  ice  and  made  canoe 
voyaging  possible,  returned  to  Montreal  by  way  of  the  French  and 
Ottawa  rivers. 

Six  months  later  the  great  Champlain  aied.  Indian  troubles  at 
home  kept  his  successors  from  following  up  the  investigations  in 
the  West,  even  had  they  possessed  the  inquiring  and  adventurous 
spirit  of  the  "father  of  New  France."  Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
was  to  elapse  before  another  French  voyageur  dared  to  follow  in  the 
wake  of  the  first  comer. 

But  Nicolet  had  blazed  the  path. 

The  fate  of  Nicolet  possesses  a  pathetic  interest.  A  man  of  warm 
sympathies  as  well  as  brave  spirit,  he  was  beloved  by  Frenchmen 
and  Indians,  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in  ministering  to  the  sick 
and  in  performing  official  duties  at  Three  Rivers  and  Quebec,  where 
he  served  as  commissary  and  interpreter.  One  evening  word  was 
brought  him  that  the  Algonkins  were  torturing  an  Indian  prisoner. 
To  prevent  this  he  entered  a  launch  to  go  to  the  place,  with  several 
companions.  A  squall  overturned  the  boat,  and  the  occupants  clung 
to  the  craft  for  some  time.  The  waves  tore  one  after  another  from 
their  frail  support.  As  Nicolet  was  about  to  be  swept  away,  he 
called  to  his  companions:  * 

"I  am  going  to  God.    I  commend  to  you  my  wife  and  daughter." 

It  was  through  the  gateway  of  AVisconsin  that  civilization  en- 
tered the  Mississippi  valley.  The  coming  of  Nicolet  was  but  the 
presage  of  greater  events.    While  Anglo-Saxon  colonists  were  strug- 


46  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

gling  to  keep  a  foothold  on  the  strip  of  coast  along  the  Atlantic,  the 
volatile  Frenchmen  were  penetrating  the  very  heart  of  the  conti- 
nent. The  former  advanced  by  slow  stages,  but  kept  a  firm  grip 
on  everything  they  seized;  the  latter  obtained  their  territory  with 
ease,  and  as  readily  lost  it.  The  Anglo-Saxon  built  his  colony  on  an 
enduring  foundation;  the  careless,  mercurial  Frenchman  thought  but 
of  to-day  and  had  no  concern  for  the  morrow.  As  with  the  indi- 
vidual, so  with  the  government.  Had  the  French  induced  their  col- 
onists to  undertake  agricultural  pursuits  instead  of  encouraging 
them  to  roam  the  woods  for  beaver  peltries,  perhaps  the  history  of 
Wisconsin  would  to-day  be  materially  different. 

The  fall  of  New  France  occurred  thirteen  years  before  the  min- 
ute men  at  Concord  and  Lexington  fired  the  signal  shots  of  the 
American  revolution;  long  after  that  period,  through  that  crucial 
test  that  cemented  the  colonies  into  a  nation,  through  the  stormy 
periods  of  the  first  administrations,  till  after  the  close  of  the  war  of 
1812,  the  "Wisconsin  region  remained  essentially  French.  For  almost 
two  hundred  years  there  passed  in  procession  through  Wisconsin 
the  French  coureurs  de  bois,  wild,  lawless  as  the  Indians  with  whom 
they  fraternized;  the  titled  and  impoverished  noblemen  who  sought 
glory  as  voyageurs;  the  priestly  wanderers  in  somber  garb  who 
came  with  crucifix,  as  their  companions  came  with  sword. 

"The  French  dominion  is  a  memory  of  the  past,"  says  Parkman, 
"and  when  we  evoke  its  departed  shades,  they  rise  upon  us  from 
their  graves  in  strange,  romantic  guise.  Again  their  ghostly  camp- 
fires  seem  to  burn,  and  the  fitful  light  is  cast  around  on  lord  and 
vassel  and  black-robed  priest,  mingled  with  wild  forms  of  savage 
warriors,  knit  in  close  fellowship  on  the  same  stern  errand.  A 
boundless  vision  grows  upon  us;  an  untamed  continent;  vast  wastes 
of  forest  verdure;  mountains  silent  in  primeval  sleep;  river,  lake 
and  glimmering  pool;  wilderness  oceans  mingling  with  the  sky. 
Such  was  the  domain  which  France  conquered  for  civilization. 
Plumed  helmets  gleamed  in  the  shade  of  its  forests,  priestly  vest- 
ments in  its  dens  and  fastnesses  of  ancient  barbarism.  Pushing  into 
the  wilderness,  their  indomitable  soldiers  and  devoted  priests  un- 
veiled the  secrets  of  the  barbarous  continent;  pierced  the  forests, 
traced  and  mapped  out  the  streams,  planted  their  emblems,  built 
their  forts  and  claimed  all  as  their  own." 

And  to-day  Frenchmen  have  in  all  of  North  America  not  one 
rood  of  soil  they  can  call  their  own. 


French  Carry-All. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   STRANGE    ADVENTURES    OF    RADISSON. 

Those  who  were  babes  when  Jean  Nicolet  returned  to  Montreal 
to  tell  what  he  had  seen  beyond  the  lakes,  had  grown  to  man's 
estate  ere  once  more  the  sound  of  a  white  man's  gun  awoke  reverber- 
ating echoes  in  the  forests  of  Wisconsin.  Twenty  years  or  more  had 
passed  away,  and  the  story  of  the  lonely  canoe  voyage  of  Cham- 
plain's  ambassador  had  be'^n  all  but  forgottten.  The  Jesuit  Rela- 
tion of  1660  notes  in  that  year  the  return  to  Montreal  of  two  ven- 
turesome explorers,  who  had  penetrated  to  the  Lake  Superior  region. 
They  had  also  "visited  the  headwaters  of  the  Black  river,  in  North- 
western Wisconsin,  and  been  guests  of  honor  in  the  skin  lodges  and 
mud  cabins  of  the  Sioux  in  Northern  Minnesota."  The  Jesuit  Rela- 
tions seldom  mention  names  of  others  than  members  of  the  order, 
and  thus  the  identity  of  these  two  unnamed  voyageurs  remained  un- 
known for  more  than  two  centuries.  Patient  research  has  finally 
established  the  fact  that  they  were  two  adventurous  Frenchmen 
named  Pierre-Esprit  Radisson  and  Medart  Chouart  des  Groseilliers. 
Groseilliers  was  the  husband  of  Radisson's  sister.  They  spent  sev- 
eral years  in  their  dangerous  wanderings  and  had  many  startling 
adventures  and  escapes  from  death. 

For  some  supposed  or  actual  slights  suffered  from  their  coun- 
trymen, upon  their  return  to  Montreal,  they  attached  themselves  to 
the  cause  of  the  rival  Englishmen,  though  later  they  renewed  their 
allegiance  to  France.  In  fact  they  appear  to  have  been  men  of 
elastic  conscience  when  self-interest  distated  a  change  of  flag.  Phys- 
ically they  were  stout-hearted,  and  in  many  respects  displayed 
much  capacity.  Radisson  became  the  husband  of  a  daughter  of  John 
Kirke,  who  was  knighted  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

The  story  of  the  adventures  of  Radisson  and  his  brother-in-law 
has  been  gathered  chiefly  from  a  manuscript  narrative  written  by 
the  former  when  he  was  in  England.  This  manuscript  has  a  curi- 
ous history.  It  was  not  written  for  publication,  but  to  interest  King 
Charles  in  the  schemes  of  the  renegade  Frenchmen  to  have  the 
English  wrest  the  Hudson  Bay  country  from  French  control.  They 
did  Interest  Prince  Rupert,  and  the  founding  of  the  famous  Hudson 
Bay  company  resulted  from  their  efforts.  This  journal  of  Radisson's 
came  into  the  possession  of  Samuel  Pepys,  author  of  the  well-known 
Pepys  Diary,  who  was  secretary  of  the  admiralty.  After  his  death, 
many  of  the  Pepys  collections  of  manuscripts  were  kicked  about  in 
garrets.  Some  of  them  went  into  waste-paper  baskets.  Others 
drifted  into  possession  of  London  shopkeepers,  and  among  them 
Radisson's  journal.     After  many  years  the  journal  was  picked  up, 

47 


4&  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

In  1750,  by  a  man  who  recognized  its  value  and  turned  it  over  to  a 
British  library.  There  it  slumbered  until  1885,  when  the  Prince 
society  of  Boston  published  it  in  a  limited  edition.  But  two  copies 
are  owned  in  Wisconsin. 

Being  the  product  of  a  Frenchman  with  a  limited  knowledge  of 
English  and  an  utter  contempt  for  the  rules  of  spelling,  the  journal 
of  Radisson  is  a  unique  specimen  of  orthographic  eccentricity.  In 
other  respects  it  is  a  most  readable  account  of  his  strange  adven- 
tures. Radisson's  first  experience  was  as  a  captive  of  the  Mohawks. 
He  was  then  a  mere  lad,  and  the  Indians  adopted  him.  Managing 
to  escape,  he  joined  the  Dutch  and  sailed  from  Manhattan  to  Hol- 
land. He  returned  to  New  France,  and  after  more  adventures  among 
the  Indians,  undertook  his  famous  two  trips  to  the  West.     The  date 


Frexch  Votageur. 
(From  an  Oil  Portrait  at  Montreal,  1835.) 

of  his  first  voyage  is  usually  given  as  1658,  but  there  is  some  evi- 
dence to  show  that  he  made  a  voyage  westward  two  years  earlier  to 
the  Green  Bay  region. 

In  these  voyages  Radisson  and  his  brother-in-law  visited  the 
Otttawas,  "ye  nation  of  ye  stairing  haires,"  as  the  French  called 
them;  the  famous  Fire  Nation  of  Wisconsin,  whose  chiefs  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  before  had  hospitably  entertained  Nicolet, 
passed  a  winter  with  the  Pottawattomies,  and  heard  of  the  Sioux 
nation  and  of  a  wandering  tribe  called  the  Christines,  dwelling  on 
the  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay  in  summer  and  on  the  Wisconsin  side 
of  Lake  Superior  in  winter.  It  is  claimed  that  while  with  the  Mas- 
coutens,  or  Fire  Nation,  the  two  Frenchmen  made  a  canoe  voyage 
to  the  Mississippi  river,  but  evidence  is  lacking  to  prove  the  sur- 
mise that  this  is  what  Radisson  meant  in  his  journal  in  referring  to 
"ye  greate  river." 


The  Story  of  the  State.  49 

"We  weare  4  moneths  in  our  voyage  without  doeing  anyihlng 
but  goe  from  river  to  river,"  Radisson  wrote.  "We  went  into  ye 
greate  river  that  divides  itself  in  2." 

It  was  during  their  second  voyage  that  Radisson  and  Groseilliers 
had  their  liveliest  experience.  En  route  they  enjoyed  themselves 
hugely  shooting  game — "it  was  to  us  like  a  terrestrial  paradise." 
On  the  shore  of  Chequamegon  bay  they  constructed  the  first  habi- 
tation ever  built  by  white  men  in  Wisconsin,  a  little  fort  of  stakes 
surrounded  by  a  long  cord  on  which  little  bells  were  tied.  They 
reasoned  that  if  hostile  "wildmen,"  as  they  termed  the  Indians,  came 
unexpectedly  upon  them,  the  ringing  of  these  bells  by  sudden  con- 
tact would  apprise  the  occupants  of  the  fort  in  season  to  guard 
against  surprise.  This  is  Radisson's  curious  description  of  the  littie 
fort  they  built: 

"We  went  about  to  make  a  fort  of  stakes,  wch  was  in  this  man- 
ner. Suppose  that  the  watter  side  had  ben  in  one  end;  att  the  same 
end  there  should  be  murtherers,  and  att  need  we  made  a  bastion  in 
a  triangle  to  defend  us  from  an  assault.  The  doore  was  neare  the 
watter  side,  our  fire  was  in  the  midle,  and  our  bed  on  the  right  hand 
covered.  There  were  boughs  of  trees  all  about  our  fort  layed  acrosse, 
one  uppon  an  other.  Besides  these  boughs,  we  had  a  long  cord  tyed 
with  some  small  bells,  wch  weare  senteryes.  Finally,  we  made  an 
end  of  that  fort  in  2  dayes'  time." 

The  "wildmen"  came,  but  proved  to  be  friendly.  In  fact  they 
seemed  to  fear  the  strangers,  rather  than  wish  to  do  them  harm. 
But  the  Frenchmen  were  on  their  guard  and  took  good  care  to  pre- 
vent treachery  and  to  astonish  the  natives  with  a  show  of  power.  In 
his  quaint  style,  Radisson  remarks  in  his  journal: 

"We  suffered  none  to  goe  in  but  one  person  (at  a  time),  and  (they) 
liked  it  so  much  the  better  &  often  durst  not  goe  in,  so  much  they 
stood  in  feare  of  our  arms,  that  were  in  good  order,  wch  weare  5 
guns,  two  musquetons,  3  fowling  peeces,  3  paire  of  great  pistoletts 
and  2  paire  of  pockett  ons,  and  every  one  his  sword  and  dagger." 
And  he  proudly  exclaims:  "We  weare  Cesars,  being  nobody  to  con- 
tradict us." 

Then  he  adds,  in  narrating  a  visit  from  fifty  young  warriors, 
and  their  wonder  at  sight  of  the  fort: 

"They  were  astonished,  calling  us  every  foot  devills  to  have 
made  such  a  machine." 

When  the  Hurons  went  on  their  great  winter  hunt,  Radisson 
and  Groseilliers  went  with  them.  They  killed  much  large  game, 
for  in  those  days  Wisconsin's  forests  were  the  haunt  of  the  moose, 
the  elk,  the  antelope,  the  woodland  caribou  and  other  animals  long 
extinct  here,  while  on  the  prairies  roamed  great  herds  of  buffalo. 
Among  other  quadrupeds  killed  were  beavers,  bears  and  wolverines. 
The  moose  seems  to  have  been  the  chief  trophy  of  the  chase — Radis- 
son calls  this  animal  the  oriniack: 


50 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


"We  beated  downe  the  woods  dayly  for  to  discover  novelties. 
We  killed  severall  other  beasts,  as  Oriniacks,  staggs,  wild  cows,  Car- 
riboucks,  fallow  does  and  bucks,  Catts  of  mountains,  child  of  the 
Devill;  in  a  word,  we  lead  a  good  life.  The  snow  increases  daily. 
There  we  make  racketts,  not  to  play  at  ball,  but  to  exercise  our- 
selves in  a  game  harder  and  more  necessary.  They  are  broad,  made 
like  racketts,  that  they  may  goe  in  the  snow  and  not  sinke  when 
they  runne  after  the  eland  or  other  beast." 

Following  this  prodigality  of  hunting  prowess,  there  came  a 
great  famine,  for  the  snow,  which  fell  in  immense  quantities,  was  so 


Large  Wisconsin  Game  Killed  by  Radisson. 
(Radisson's  Journal   Speaks  of  the  Moose  as  the   "Oriniack.".) 

light  that  it  would  not  bear  the  burden  of  the  snowshoes,  and  hunt- 
ing for  food  was  out  of  the  question.  With  painful  minuteness  the 
journal  of  Radisson  depicts  their  misery,  which  "grows  wors  and 
wors  dayly." 

Though  Radisson's  journal  was  written  some  years  after  this 
event,  its  memories  must  have  remained  fresh,  judging  from  the 
graphic  fidelity  of  his  narrative.  "O,  cursed  covetousnesse,"  he 
wrote,  "what  art  thou  going  to  doe?  Every  one  cryes  out  for  hun- 
ger; Pfrench,  you  called  yourselves  Gods  of  the  earth,  that  you 
should  be  feared,  for  your  interest;  notwithstanding  you  shall  tast 
of  the  bitternesse.  Where  is  the  plentynesse  that  yee  had  in  all  places 


The  Story  of  the  State.  51 

and  in  countreys.  Here  comes  a  new  family  of  these  poore  people 
dayly  to  us,  halfe  dead,  for  they  have  but  the  skins  and  boans.  Tho 
first  2  weeke  we  did  eate  our  doggs.  As  we  went  backe  upon  our 
stepps  for  to  gett  anything  to  fill  our  bellyes,  we  were  glad  to  gett 
the  boans  and  carcasses  of  the  beasts  that  we  killed.  And  happy 
was  he  that  could  gett  what  the  other  did  throw  away  after  it  had 
been  boiled  3  or  foure  times  to  get  the  substance  out  of  it." 

Finally  they  were  reduced  to  eating  boiled  skins,  ground  bones 
and  the  bark  of  trees.  As  Radisson  expressed  it,  "finally  we  bee- 
came  the  very  Image  of  Death.  Here  are  above  500  dead.  It's  time 
to  come  out  of  such  miseryes." 

At  last  the  snow  hardened  and  the  wornout  hunters  were  enabled 
with  great  effort  to  secure  a  few  animals  with  which  to  cheer  their 
famished  stomachs. 

Much  of  the  success  that  attended  the  barter  of  the  two  French- 
men with  the  Indians  was  due  to  the  possession  of  merchandise  that 
pleased  the  fancy  of  the  latter.  Such  articles  as  kettles,  hatchets, 
knives,  garters,  awls,  needles,  tin  looking-glasses,  little  bells, 
combs,  Vermillion,  necklaces  and  bracelets  were  profitably  ex- 
changed, although  the  barter  was  made  ostensibly  in  the  nature  of 
an  exchange  of  gifts.  Says  Radisson:  "We  gave  them  several  gifts 
and  received  many.  They  bestowed  upon  us  above  300  robs  of  cas- 
tors"  (beavers). 

How  far  south  of  the  Wisconsin  river  Radisson  and  his  brother- 
in-law  went  in  their  journeys  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  Benja- 
min Suite,  a  leading  Canadian  historian,  who  has  made  a  close 
study  of  Radisson's  journal,  believes  that  they  wintered  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Milwaukee,  if  not  Chicago,  in  1658-59. 

The  two  Frenchmen  had  many  more  adventures  after  this.  T]iey 
wandered  to  the  country  of  the  Sioux,  and  claim  to  have  gone  as  far 
as  Hudson's  bay.  After  many  adventures  they  returned  to  Mon- 
treal. 

Their  subsequent  experiences  are  full  of  incident,  but  do  not 
pertain  to  Wisconsin  history.  Alternating  in  allegiance  between  the 
French  and  English,  as  their  interests  dictated,  finally  they  made 
England  their  home.  Both  are  believed  to  have  died  in  that 
country. 


French  Pony  Cart. 


CHAPTER  III. 

RULE  OF  THE  FOREST  RANGER. 

When,  on  the  19th  day  of  August  in  the  year  1660,  the  intrepid 
Radisson  and  his  brother-in-law,  Groseilliers,  returned  from  Wis- 
consin to  Montreal,  they  were  accompanied  by  300  Indians  and  sixty 
canoes  loaded  with 

Furs  of  bison  and  of  beaver, 
Furs  of  sable  and  of  ermine. 

The  Indian  flotilla  created  the  greatest  excitement  in  Montreal. 
Every  young  Frenchman  there  dreamed  of  riches  to  be  found  in  the 
forests  of  the  Wisconsin  region,  for  to  New  France  the  fur  trade 
was  what  the  mines  of  the  Southwest  were  to  the  Spaniards.  The 
population  of  New  France  had  at  this  time  a  large  admixture  of 
ruined  sprigs  of  nobility  and  disbanded  soldiers.  Without  kith  or 
kin  to  tie  them  to  domestic  hearthstones,  these  soldiers  of  fortune 
turned  the  prows  of  their  birch-bark  canoes  westward  in  search  of 
adventures  among  the  children  of  the  forest.  They  became  known 
as  coureurs  de  bois  (rangers  of  the  woods),  and  with  utter  disregard 
of  the  hazards  that  threatened  and  hardships  that  must  be  endured, 
the  adventurers  penetrated  to  the  most  remote  regions  of  the  lake 
country. 

The  coureur  de  bois  was  the  most  picturesque  character  in  the 
history  of  this  region.  For  a  century  and  a  half  he  and  the  more 
modern  fur  trader,  of  whom  he  was  the  prototype,  were  the  most 
potent  factors  in  the  discoveries  that  pi'eceded  settlement.  The  traf- 
fic in  peltries  was  lucrative,  the  roving  life,  free  from  restraint,  had 
charms  that  appealed  with  peculiar  fascination  to  the  ardent  French 
temperament,  and  the  numbers  of  the  coureurs  de  bois  constantly 
increased.  Unlike  the  sturdy  Saxon,  whose  meeting  with  the  abo- 
rigines meant  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  the  easy-going  Frenchman 
did  not  seek  to  crowd  the  Indian  from  his  place.  Instead  he  adapted 
himself  to  the  customs  and  habits  of  the  red  man,  and  became  half 
Indian  himself.  "Divested  of  all  the  proprieties  of  his  former  civi- 
lized life,  painted  and  tattooed,  with  feathered  hat  and  beaded  gar- 
ments, he  gaily  danced  with  the  braves  or  gravely  smoked  the  calu- 
met at  the  council  of  the  tribe." 

In  the  lodges  of  the  chiefs  he  wooed  and  won  the  dusky  maidens 
of  the  woods;  if,  perhaps,  in  his  wandering  journeys  from  tribe  to 
tribe,  the  fancy  seized  him,  he  did  not  scruple  to  take  to  wife  as 
many  of  them  as  there  were  villages  in  which  he  tarried — there  were 
no  inconvenient  laws  of  civilization  to  deter  him  from  following  the 
example  of  the  jolly  tar  who  had  a  wife  in  every  port. 

Sometimes  there  came  upon  the  coureur  de  bois  a  longing  to  re- 
turn to  the  settlements  of  the  St.  Lawrence.    With  his  accumulated 

52 


The  Stori/  of  the  State. 


53 


store  of  beaver  furs  he  made  his  way  along  the  water  courses  until 
he  came  to  such  a  place.    Then,  disposing  of  his  merchandise,  he 


COUREURS    DE    BOIS    CAROUSING. 

AFTER  A  SKETCH  BY  PYLE,  IN  HARPER'S. 

(The  scene  represents  the  jollification  of    the    wood    rangers   upon   their    return 
from  the  forests  of  Wisconsin,  where  they  have  secured  valuable  furs.) 

sought  the  company  of  boon  companions  for  a  season  of  wild  gayety 
that  lasted  till  his  empty  purse  made  necessary  a  return  to  the  home 


54  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

of  the  beaver  and  the  lodge  of  the  Indian.  While  his  money  lasted 
he  abandoned  himself  to  the  wild  carousal  of  the  frontier  tavern. 

After  a  time  the  French  authorities  tried  to  suppress  the  lawless 
rangers  of  the  woods,  deeming  their  barter  for  furs  an  infringement 
on  the  rights  of  the  government.  Severe  repressive  measures  did  not 
deter  the  unlicensed  traffic,  and  then  the  French  authorities  tried  to 
regulate  it  by  stipulating  how  many  canoes  would  be  permitted  to 
engage  in  it.  There  were  three  men  with  each  canoe.  Despite  their 
disregard  of  law,  the  rangers  proved  of  great  service  to  their  gov- 
ernment, for  everywhere  they  went  they  made  friends  of  the  In- 
dians. This  friendship  for  the  French  remained  steadfast  in  the  case 
of  every  Algonkin  tribe  but  one — the  Fox  Indians  of  Wisconsin.  The 
lawless  coureur  de  bois  thus  became  the  advance  guard  who  spread 
for  France  the  great  arteries  of  trade  in  the  Western  country. 

A  century  later  the  coureur  de  bois  was  no  longer  the  independ- 
ent ranger  who  yielded  obedience  to  neither  king  nor  potentate;  he 
had  become  the  modern  voyageur  of  forest  commerce.  Instead  of 
following  the  dictates  of  his  fickle  fancy,  he  went  here  or  there  at 
the  behest  of  his  employer.  His  work  was  to  ply  the  paddle  while  on 
the  stream  and  to  carry  the  burden  when  making  a  portage. 

The  French  coureur  de  bois,  using  the  language  of  cultivated 
France,  had  been  succeeded  by  the  half-breed  oarsman,  speaking  the 
patois  which  French  and  Indian  ancestors  had  contributed  as  his 
only  legacy. 

These  voyageurs,  some  of  whom  were  to  be  encountered  in  Wis- 
consin as  late  as  fifty  years  ago,  were  in  their  way  as  picturesque 
characters  as  the  earlier  specimens  of  coureurs  de  bois.  Clad  in 
shirts  of  red  flannel  or  leather,  with  tasseled  caps  of  vivid  coloring 
hanging  over  on  one  side,  they  manned  conoe  and  barge  as  though  a 
part  of  the  craft.  Like  a  thing  instinct  with  life,  the  canoe  sped 
through  the  water  with  tireless  velocity.  The  muscles  of  the  voy- 
ageurs were  bands  of  steel;  from  the  hour  when  a  gray  line  in  the 
east  proclaimed  the  coming  dawn  till  the  sun  sank  in  the  west  in 
roseate  splendor,  they  sped  the  craft  forward. 

As  the  voyageurs  plied  the  paddle,  they  chanted  songs  in  rhyth- 
mic unison  with  the  motion.  These  songs,  once  begun,  seemed  to 
have  no  end,  and  one  verse  seemed  like  the  others  of  the  intermin- 
able number.  Love  was  usually  the  theme,  though  sometimes  the 
stillness  of  the  forest  brought  a  softening  mood  upon  the  men,  and 
the  ditty  gave  way  to  the  ballad  and  elegy.  Mellowed  by  distance, 
these  boat  songs,  with  their  accompanying  sound  of  the  oar,  fell  upon 
the  ear  with  cadence  of  indescribable  sweetness.  The  plaintive 
melody  of  the  voyageur's  chanson  cannot  be  reproduced  by  giving 
the  words,  but  the  quaint  rhyming  has  an  interest,  too.  Mrs.  Mary 
A.  Krum  of  Madison  has  happily  rendered  in  English  the  words  of 
one  of  these  popular  ditties  of  the  voyageur: 


The  Storij  of  the  State.  55 

Each  returning  springtime 

Brings  so  much  that's  new, 
All  the  fickle  lovers 
Changing  sweethearts    too. 
The  good  wine  soothes  and  gives  me  rest. 
While  love  inspires  and  fills  my  breast. 
All  the  fickle  lovers 

Changing  sweethearts  still, 
I'll  keep  mine  forever, 
Those  may  change  who  will. 
The  good  wine  soothes  and  gives  me  rest, 
While  love  inspires  and  fills  my  breast. 
Etc.,  etc. 

It  was  well  for  the  more  modern  voyageur  that  he  could  find 
Bweet  solace  in  song,  for  in  many  respects  his  life  was  one  of  few 
compensations  for  toil  and  hardship.  Paddling  from  dawn  to  dusk, 
seldom  stopping  for  a  midday  meal,  his  daily  rations  were  a  quart 
of  hulled  corn  and  a  piece  of  sea  biscuit,  with  a  half  pint  of  bear's 
grease.  The  corn  served,  with  a  piece  of  pork,  for  boiling  a  kind  of 
soup,  and  this  he  ate  with  zest,  as  he  munched  his  hard  biscuit. 
Sometimes  he  V&ried  the  bill  of  fare  by  using  pease  or  beans  in 
place  of  hulled  corn  when  boiling  his  bouillon  or  soup.  The  well- 
known  traveler,  Alexander  Henry,  whom  Mrs.  Mary  Hartwell  Cath- 
erwood  has  made  her  hero  in  her  charmingly  told  story  of  "The 
White  Islander,"  was  an  interesting  observer  of  Wisconsin  life  in 
1776.  He  wrote  in  his  journal  concerning  the  voyageur  of  his  day: 
"A  bushel  of  hulled  corn  with  two  pounds  of  fat  is  reckoned  to  be 
a  month's  subsistence.  No  other  allowance  is  made  of  any  kind,  not 
even  salt,  and  bread  is  never  thought  of." 

What  a  contrast  from  the  life  led  by  his  progenitor — the  wild, 
lawless,  untrammeled  forest  ranger  of  the  seventeenth  century. 


Plow   Used   a   Hundred   Years   Ago. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A   TRINCE  OF   COUREURS   DE   BOIS. 

Of  the  company  of  coureurs  de  bois  whose  favorite  abiding  place 
was  Wisconsin,  none  became  as  famous  as  Nicholas  Perrot.  Daniel 
Greysolon  du  L'hut  and  his  cousin,  Henry  de  Tonty,  "the  man  with 
the  iron  hand,"  played  a  more  conspicuous  part  in  the  exploration 
of  the  Western  country,  but  neither  was  so  closely  associated  with 
events  on  Wisconsin  soil.  The  oldest  memorial  in  Wisconsin,  to-day, 
of  white  man's  occupation  here,  is  a  soleil  wrought  in  silver  and  pre- 
sented by  Perrot  to  the  Jesuit  mission  at  Green  Bay  in  1686.  This 
ancient  relic  was  unearthed  by  workmen  ninety-five  years  ago,  while 
digging  a  foundation,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Wisconsin 
Historical  society  at  Madison. 

Long  before  he  thought  of  giving  to  the  mission  on  the  Fox 
this  Catholic  emblem,  Perrot  had  become  familiar  with  the  region 
around  Green  Bay.  Of  his  earlier  years  little  is  known,  except  that 
he  attached  himself  to  the  wandering  missionaries  as  a  hunter  to 
provide  for  their  wants  while  they  were  threading  the  woods  in 
search  of  converts.  He  was  about  21  years  old  when,  in  1665,  he 
came  West  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Wisconsin  Indians. 
He  obtained  an  extraordinary  influence  over  them.  It  was  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  French  interests  that  the  Western  Indians 
should  remain  at  peace  with  each  other,  and  the  authorities  at  Mon- 
treal entrusted  to  Perrot  the  delicate  role  of  peacemaker.  The  In- 
dians living  in  what  is  now  Northwestern  Wisconsin  have  been  well 
described  as  "a  race  unsteady  as  aspens,  and  fierce  as  wild  cats;  full 
of  mutual  jealousies,  without  rulers  and  without  laws."  Perrot  suc- 
ceeded remarkably  well  in  pacifying  the  unruly  nomads  of  forest 
and  prairie.  He  built  a  number  of  rude  stockades,  or  forts,  in  Wis- 
consin. One  was  Fort  St.  Antoine,  on  the  Wisconsin  shore  of  Lake 
Pepin,  traces  of  which  fort  were  visible  four  decades  ago;  another 
was  near  the  present  site  of  Trempealeau,  where  but  a  few  years  since 
was  discovered  the  hearth  and  fireplace  that  he  had  built  two  hun- 
dred years  before.  Fort  St.  Francis  was  built  by  Perrot  near  the  future 
site  of  Prairie  du  Chien;  he  also  built  a  fort  near  the  lead  mines, 
which  he  discovered  while  traveling  among  the  tribes  to  prevent  an 
alliance  with  the  Iroquois  Indians,  who  were  friendly  to  the  Eng- 
lish. The  Miamis  presented  him  with  a  packet  of  beaver  skins  and 
a  piece  of  lead  ore,  and  thus  called  his  attention  to  the  presence  of 
the  metal  in  Southwestern  Wisconsin. 

Perrot  played  an  important  part  in  an  imposing  ceremony  that 
occurred  in  1671  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  when  the  French  commander,  St. 
Lusson,  formally  took  possession  of  the  entire  Western   country. 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


57 


Representatives  of  fourteen  tribes  of  Indians  were  present,  Nicholas 
Perrot  having  gathered  them  from  the  Wisconsin  and  Hudson  Bay 
regions  for  this  purpose.  The  ceremonj'  was  an  elaborate  affair, 
well  calculated  to  impress  the  savages  with  the  importance  of  the 
French.  A  hole  had  been  dug,  and  into  this  was  placed  one  end  of 
a   huge   wooden    cross.    This   was  surrounded    by   the    splendidly- 


Perrot's  Soleil. 
(Found  at  Green  Bay  by  Workmen  Engaged  in  Digging  a  Foundation. 
Possession  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society.) 


Now  in 


dressed  officers  and  their  soldiers,  and  led  by  the  black-gowned 
Jesuit  priests  of  the  company,  the  uncovered  Frenchmen  began  to 
chant  the  seventh  century  hymn  beginning  thus: 

"Vexilla  Regis  proderunt  ' 

Fulget  crucis  mysterium,"  etc. 

As  the  sound  of  their  hoarse  voices  died  away,  St.  Lusson  ad- 
vanced to  a  post  erected  near  the  cross,  and  as  the  royal  arms  of 


58  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsi7i  History. 

France  engraved  on  a  tablet  of  lead  were  nailed  thereon,  he  lifted 
a  sod,  bared  his  sword  and  dramatically  took  possession  of  the  soil 
in  the  name  of  the  Grand  Monarque,  Louis  XIV.,  styled  "the  Mag- 
nificent." A  priest  offered  a  prayer  for  his  most  Christian  majesty, 
another  hymn  was  sung,  and  Father  Claude  Allouez  treated  tn© 
somewhat  astonished  tribesmen  to  a  long  address.  St.  Lusson,  in 
taking  possession,  claimed  for  the  king  of  France  "Lakes  Huron  and 
Superior,  the  island  of  Manitoulin  and  all  countries,  rivers,  lakes 
and  streams  contiguous  and  adjacent  thereunto;  both  those  which 
have  been  discovered  and  those  which  may  be  discovered  hereafter, 
in  all  their  length  and  breadth,  bounded  on  the  one  side  by  the  seas 
of  the  north  and  of  the  west,  and  on  the  other  by  the  South  sea." 

"Long  live  the  king,"  came  from  the  brazen  throats  of  the  sol- 
diers as  the  ceremony  was  concluded,  and  the  painted  savages 
howled  in  sympathy. 

Hardly  had  St.  Lusson's  gorgeous  pageant  come  to  a  conclusion, 
when  the  Indians  celebrated  on  their  own  account  by  stealing  the 
royal  arms. 

Facsimile  Autograph  of  Father  Menard. 
(Rene   Menard    has    been    called    Wisconsin's   martyr    missionary    because    in 
seeking  his  lost  sheep,  the  migratory  Huron  Indians,  about  the  headwaters  of  the 
Black  River,   he  lost  his  life  either  through  exposure  and  starvation,  or  by  the 
tomahawk.    He  was  the  pioneer  soldier  of  the  cross  in  Wisconsin.) 

Fourteen  years  later  Perrot  was  appointed  "commandant  of  the 
"West,"  and  in  1689  repeated  on  Wisconsin  soil  the  ceremony  of  tak- 
ing possession  in  the  name  of  the  French  king. 

Despite  his  great  influence  over  the  Indians,  Perrot  had  much 
to  contend  with  in  his  relations  with  them  during  the  thirty-four 
years  that  embraced  his  labors  in  the  West.  While  at  his  fort  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Pepin,  a  party  of  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutens 
learned  that  there  were  but  six  Frenchmen  in  charge  and  planned 
to  pillage  the  post.  Learning  their  plans,  Perrot  prepared  for  them. 
Spies  came  to  the  fort  and  asked:     "How  many  French  are  there?" 

"Forty,"  was  the  reply.  "More  are  expected  from  a  buffalo  hunt. 
Our  guns  are  well  loaded  and  our  knives  are  sharpened." 

Six  chiefs  came  in  apparent  friendship  and  were  admitted  to  the 
fort.  Being  divested  of  their  arms,  they  were  taken  into  Perrot's 
hut  of  logs,  where  meat  was  given  to  eat  and  tobacco  to  smoke. 
Loaded  guns  were  placed  conveniently  within  reach  of  the  French- 
men.    These  the  conspirators  eyed  suspiciously. 

"Is  Metaminens  afraid  of  his  children?"  they  asked  Perrot  in  sim- 
ulated reproach. 

"No." 

"Then  he  is  displeased." 


The  Story  of  the  State.  59 


"I  have  good  reason  to  be,"  said  Perrot  sternly.  "The  spirit  has 
warned  me  of  your  designs;  you  will  rob  me  of  my  goods  and  put 
me  in  the  kettle.  The  spirit  told  me  to  be  on  my  guard  and  he 
would  help  me." 

Surprised  that  their  plans  were  known,  the  chiefs  confessed  the 
plot,  and  when  their  warriors  came  next  morning,  one  of  them 
shouted  to  them  from  the  gate  of  the  fort:  "Do  not  advance,  or 
you  are  dead.     The  spirit  has  warned  Metaminens." 

Perrot  gave  the  chiefs  two  kettles  and  a  few  other  presents,  and 
they  departed. 

On  another  occasion  thievish  Indians  had  stolen  a  box  of  goods. 
Perrot  ordered  the  goods  returned  at  once,  or  he  would  dry  up  their 
rice  marshes  and  visit  dire  punishment  upon  them.  To  show  them 
that  he  possessed  supernatural  powers,  he  ordered  a  cup  of  water  to 
be  brought  to  him.  Pouring  some  brandy  into  it,  he  set  fire  to  the 
liquor.  Terrified  by  the  sight  of  the  burning  liquid  and  believing 
Metaminens  capable  of  any  miracle,  they  restored  the  stolen  goods. 

His  boldness  saved  some  Indian  prisoners  of  the  Ottawas  from 
the  torture  of  the  stake.  The  unhappy  captives  had  already  run  the 
gauntlet,  and  those  who  had  fallen  beneath  the  blows  of  the  sticks 
wielded  by  the  double  row  of  women  and  young  men  had  been  con- 
demned to  be  burned.  As  they  sang  the  death  dirge,  Perrot  ap- 
peared among  them  and  commanded  them  to  cease  the  song.  Im- 
patient at  the  interruption,  the  braves  commanded  their  victims  to 
continue.     Perrot  boldly  declared: 

"I  came  to  cut  the  strings  of  the  dogs.  I  will  not  suffer  them  to 
be  eaten.  You  Ottawas  are  like  tame  bears,  who  will  not  recognize 
them  who  have  brought  them  up.  You  have  forgotten  the  protection 
of  Onontio  (the  governor  of  New  France).  When  he  asks  your  obe- 
dience you  want  to  rule  over  him,  and  eat  the  flesh  of  those  chil- 
dren he  does  not  wish  to  give  you.  Take  care,  Onontio  will  tear 
them  with  violence  from  between  your  teeth." 

Perrot's  attitude  had  the  desired  effect  and  the  bands  of  the 
prisoners  were  cut. 

At  one  time  Perrot  had  a  narrow  escape  from  being  tortured  at 
the  stake.  He  was  rescued  before  the  torch  had  been  applied  to  the 
fagots. 

Perrot  wrote  an  account  of  his  experiences,  but  it  was  not 
printed  until  1864.  An  English  translation  has  never  been  published. 
Perrot's  Memoire  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  experiences  and 
of  the  customs  of  the  savages.  He  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  an  Indian 
feast  and  war  dance,  as  practiced  in  Wisconsin  two  centuries  and  a 
half  ago.     A  translation  of  a  part  of  this  description  is  here  given: 

After  describing  the  contents  of  the  war  bag,  or  "pindikossan," 
consisting  of  the  skins  of  owls,  snakes,  white  birds,  parrots,  magpies 
and  other  animals,  he  goes  on  to  say:  "Before  the  feast  they  always 
fast,  without  either  eating  or  drinking  until  they  have  had  a  dream. 


60 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


During  this  fast  they  blacken  their  face,  shoulders  and  breast  with 
coal;  they  smoke,  however.  Some  are  said  to  have  fasted  twelve 
consecutive  days — which  seems  incredible — and  others  less." 

After  elaborate  ceremonials  and  the  eating  of  dog's  flesh,  an  In- 
dian delicacy,  the  master  of  ceremonies,  who  is  armed  with  bow  and 
quiver  of  arrows,  as  well  as  a  javelin,  "assumes  a  most  furious  look, 
entones  his  war  song,  and  at  each  syllable  that  he  pronounces  makes 
most  horrible  contortions  of  head  and  body — the  most  terrible  that 
can  be  seen.  After  him  all  the  guests,  one  after  another,  endeavor  to 
outdo  one  another  in  assuming  most  furious  appearances.  While 
singing,  some  fill  their  plates  with  hot  ashes  and  burning  coals, 
which  they  throw  upon  the  spectators,  who  vociferate  in  chorus  with 


Wooden  Anchor  of  the  Votageurs. 

(Picture  of  a  Wooden  Anchor  Found  at  Green  i5ay  and  now  in  the  Possession  of 

the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society.) 


a  very  strong  but  slow  voice,  'Ouiy!'  Others  seize  fire-brands  and 
throw  them  up  into  the  air;  others,  again,  act  as  if  they  were  going 
to  tomahawk  the  spectators.  These  last  are  obliged  to  repair  the 
affront  offered  to  him  whom  they  feigned  to  strike,  by  making  him 
a  present  of  vermillion,  knife  or  some  other  object  of  like  value. 
Only  such  warriors  as  have  slain  or  captured  an  enemy  are  allowed 
to  act  in  this  manner.  These  feints  signify  that  it  was  thus  the 
enemy  was  slain." 

After  some  more  shouting  and  grimacing,  the  best  of  the  feast 
is  given  to  the  guests.  "Above  all,"  adds  Perrot,  "everyone  must 
come  provided  with  his  own  plate;  otherwise  he  would  not  get  his 
share.  Hence  they  never  fail  in  this,  the  Indian  being  naturally  too 
gluttonous  to  forget  on  an  occasion  like  this  to  fill  well  his  belly." 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


61 


The  declining  years  of  Perrot's  life  were  spent  on  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  In  his  old  age  he  was  neglected  by  the  govern- 
ment for  which  he  had  toiled  and  borne  hardships  so  many  years. 
He  was  about  75  years  of  age  when  his  career  came  to  a  close. 


Facsimile  Autograph  of  Claude  Allouez. 

(It  is  not  known  where  or  when  Allouez  was  born.  He  reached  Canada  seven 
years  before  he  came  to  Wisconsin.  He  not  only  founded  every  Jesuit  Mission 
in  this  State,  but  wandered  into  the  Illinois  country,  and  started  several  mis- 
sions there.  The  great  explorer.  La  Salle,  became  a  bitter  enemy  of  Allouez, 
claiming  that  the  Jesuit  attempted  to  excite  against  his  enterprises  the  enmity 
of  the  Wisconsin  Indians.  It  is  certainly  true  that  on  several  occasions  Indians 
from  Wisconsin  frustrated  the  plans  of  La  Salle,  but  it  has  not  been  established 
beyond  doubt  that  the  influence  of  Allouez  was  responsible.  La  Salle  and  the 
Jesuits  were  bitterly  hostile  in  their  relations  and  Allouez  on  two  occasions  pre- 
cipitately left  the  French  fort  on  the  Illinois  because  La  Salle  was  expected  there.) 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   BLACK  GOWNS  AND  THEIR  WANDERINGS. 

The  story  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  contemporary  wanderers  of 
the  coureurs  de  bois  in  Wisconsin  as  in  other  parts  of  the  New 
World,  can  be  read  "on  ancient  worm-eaten  pages,  between  the  cov- 
ers of  begrimed  parchment."  Bancroft's  oft-quoted  sentence  that 
in  the  new  world  "not  a  cape  was  turned,  not  a  river  entered,  but  a 
Jesuit  led  the  way,"  is  based  on  error.  The  soldier  of  fortune  came 
with  the  sword  before  the  soldier  of  the  cross  came  with  the  cruci- 
fix, but  the  man  of  peace  was  close  on  the  heels  of  the  man  of  war, 
and  frequently  they  were  together. 

The  Jesuit  priest  was  the  historian  of  this  early  period.  These 
wandering  black-gowns,  as  the  Indians  termed  them,  were  required 
to  report  periodically  to  their  superior,  and  their  reports  were  col- 
lated and  printed  in  Paris.  Annually,  from  1632  till  1672,  these  an- 
nals of  the  New  World  came  from  the  press.  The  lawless  rangers 
of  the  woods,  with  a  few  notable  exceptions  like  Radisson  and  Per- 
rot,  did  not  commit  to  paper  their  experiences  and  impressions,  and 
thus  the  relations  of  the  Jesuits  have  come  to  be  almost  sole  author- 
ity for  an  authentic  narrative  of  this  interesting  period  of  North- 
western history.  These  printed  Relations  in  the  course  of  time  be- 
came scattered  and  lost;  but  one  complete  set  is  known  to  exist  in 
America,  and  that  is  in  the  fire-proof  vaults  of  Lenox  library. 

Nearly  all  of  the  little  volumes  known  as  the  Jesuit  Relations 
came  from  the  press  of  the  French  king's  printer.  They  were  issued 
during  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  styled  "the  Magnifi- 
cent," and  the  dissolute  members  of  his  frivolous  court  eagerly  read 
the  narrative  of  hideous  torture  at  the  stake,  and  other  cruelties 
practiced  upon  the  devoted  wanderers  of  the  wilderness  who  were 
seeking  converts  among  the  heathen  red  men.  In  "bewigged,  be- 
ruffled,  bepowdered  France"  there  were  not  wanting  pious  zealots 
who  eagerly  furnished  the  means  whereby  these  men  of  religion,  as 
well  as  explorers  with  more  material  aims,  might  be  enabled  to 
prosecute  their  journeyings;  thus  New  France  was  soon  dotted  with 
the  isolated  bark  chapels  built  by  the  black-gowned  missionaries. 
Amid  the  somber  pine's  of  the  New  World  there  was  heard,  to  the 
refrain  of  rustling  branches  and  rippling  streams,  the  chanting  of 
the  same  old  seventeenth  century  hymns  that  in  the  Old  World 
filled  the  vast  spaces  of  classic  cathedrals;  in  the  rude  bark  chapel, 
half-starved  priests  suffering  from  the  rigor  of  the  climate  and  the 
cruelties  of  the  natives,  intoned  the"  simple  service;  in  the  great 
cathedrals  of  France,  titled  prelates  in  gleaming  vestments  per- 
formed the  service,  while  the  jubilant  voices  of  the  surpliced  choir 
carried  the  hymns  to  the  congregation. 

62 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


63 


Devoted  to  their  calling  as  they  undoubtedly  were,  oblivious  to 
physical  discomfort,  willing  to  endure  privations  and  to  face  death, 
in  order  to  win  to  their  faith  a  few  miserable  savages,  the  mission- 
aries had   too,  all  the  prejudices  of  their  age.    For  forty  years  they 


PERE    MARQUETTE. 
AFTER    THE    TRENTANOVE    STATUE    IN    THE    OLD    HALL    OF    CONGRESS. 

obtaining  the  necessary  information.) 

wrote  their  Relations,  and  in  all  that  time  they  carefully  excluded 
from  their  pages  all  reference  to  achievements  in  which  they  had 
no  part  In  all  the  history  of  Western  exploration  no  figure  looms 
so  conspicuously  as  that  of  Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  La  Salle.  Not 
a  line  of  the  Relations  bears  his  name,  though  his  great  discoveries 


64 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


■were  contemporaneous  with  Jesuit  effort  for  twenty  years.  There 
are  long  and  tedious  descriptions  of  baptisms,  intelligent  observa- 
tions on  soil  and  climate  and  topography,  graphic  pictures  of  savage 
customs  and  vivid  narratives  of  personal  experience;  but  nowhere  is 
there  even  an  allusion  to  La  Salle  or  any  other  man  hostile  to  the 
order. 


Old  Church  on  Madadine  Island. 
(Tourists  who  visit  the  Apostle  group  of  islands  are  told  that  the  old  church 
on  Madaline  Island  is  the  one  built  in  1665  by  Claude  Allouez.  This  is  fiction. 
The  chapel  constructed  by  Allouez  was  on  the  mainland,  and  some  miles  in  the 
interior;  the  church  on  the  island  was  built  by  Bishop  Baraga  early  in  the  pres- 
ent century.    All  traces  of  Allouez's  chapel  have  long  since  disappeared.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

UNSOLVED    MYSTERY    OF    FATHER    MEXARD'S    DEATH. 

IxsEPAi?ABLY  associated  with  the  history  of  Wisconsin  are  the 
names  of  three  Jesuits — Claude  Allouez,  Rene  Menard  and  James 
Marquette.  Menard  was  the  pioneer,  and  he  met  death  in  the  region 
drained  by  Black  river.  When  he  came  to  Wisconsin,  in  1660,  he 
was  an  old  man.    He  seemed  to  have  a  premoniiion  of  his  sad  fate. 

"I  write  to  you  probably  the  last  word,  and  I  desire  it  to  be  the 
seal  of  our  friendship  until  eternity,"  he  wrote  a  friend  on  the  eve 
of  his  departure.  "In  three  or  four  months  you  may  put  me  in  the 
memento  of  the  dead,  considering  the  manner  of  living  of  these 
people  and  my  age  and  weak  constitution." 

From  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin  the  aged  missionary  wrote  to  his 
superior  at  Quebec  an  account  of  his  hardships.  His  Indian  com- 
panions treated  him  badly.  "They  required  me  to  carry  on  my 
shoulders  very  heavy  packs,  and  although  my  paddle,  wielded  by 
hands  as  feeble  as  mine,  did  but  little  service  towards  hastening  the 
journey,  they  would  not  allow  it  to  be  idle." 

Provisions  became  scarce  and  the  aged  missionary  was  aban- 
doned with  three  Indians.  "We  have  everyone  of  us  kept  fast,  and 
that  a  rigorous  one,"  he  wrote.  "Happy  those  who  find  a  certain 
kind  of  moss  which  grows  on  rocks  and  of  which  they  make  a  black 
broth.  As  for  moose  skins,  those  who  had  some  left  ate  them 
stealthily.    Everything  seems  palatable  when  a  person  is  hungry." 

But  the  worst  was  to  come.  For  six  days  they  were  reduced  to 
subsisting  on  soup  from  grounded  bone  and  earth  saturated  with  the 
blood  of  animals  that  had  been  killed  there.  Finally  a  band  of  In- 
dians, more  compassionate  than  the  others,  took  the  old  man  with 
them  to  their  wintering  station  on  Keweenaw  bay  on  the  south 
shore  of  Lake  Superior.    Here  he  started  a  mission. 

It  was  while  on  his  way  towards  distant  pagan  tribes  of  whom 
he  had  heard  that  Father  Menard  lost  his  life.  Undeterred  by  the 
description  given  him  of  the  country  to  be  traversed — "an  almost 
continual  series  of  swamps,  in  which  soundings  had  to  be  taken  lest 
one  might  get  himself  inextricably  engulfed,"  and  where  the  traveler, 
"winding  his  way  through  dense  swarms  of  mosquitoes,  would  not 
find  anywhere  in  those  dismal  regions  means  of  living" — Father 
Menard  undertook  the  journey  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Black  river 
of  Wisconsin. 

"It  is  my  hope,"  he  wrote,  "to  die  on  the  way."  It  was  his  last 
letter,  and  it  was  prophetic. 

The  Relation  of  1663  tells  how  Father  Menard  died  while  seek- 
ing his  lost  sheep,  the  migratory  Hurons.    He  set  out  in  July,  1661, 

65 


'66  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

with  a  French  companion  and  a  party  of  Indians.  Before  long  the 
latter  brutally  abandoned  the  two  Frenchmen,  who  pushed  on  as 
best  they  could.  While  following  his  companion,  Father  Menard  be- 
'came  lost.  The  Frenchman,  when  he  missed  him,  called  him,  fired 
iis  gun  as  a  signal,  and  made  a  search — all  in  vain.  Reaching  a 
Huron  village,  he  sought  their  aid  in  the  search.  At  this  juncture  a 
young  warrior  rushed  into  camp,  crying:  "To  arms,  to  arms!  I 
have  just  encountered  the  enemy!"  The  Hurons  at  this  abandoned 
all  thought  of  the  lost  missionary. 

"Behold  him  thus  abandoned,  but  still  in  the  hands  of  divine 
Providence,"  The  Relation  goes  on  to  say,  "which  doubtless  has 
given  him  strength  in  this  extremity  to  endure  with  constancy  the 
bereavement  of  all  human  assistance,  while  constantly  assailed  by 
the  piercing  bills  of  mosquitoes,  the  numbers  of  which  in  these  quar- 
ters are  frightful.  Thus  the  poor  father,  stretched  upon  the  earth,  or 
perhaps  on  some  rock,  lay  exposed  to  the  sharp  bills  of  these  little 
tyrants,  and  as  long  as  he  survived  continued  to  suffer  this  torment, 
to  which  hunger  and  other  miseries  finally  put  an  end." 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  tomahawk  of  a  predatory  Sioux  ended 
the  life  of  the  Jesuit  missionary,  for  his  cassock  and  kettle  were 
found  later  in  the  lodge  of  an  Indian.  The  cause  of  his  death  will 
ever  remain  a  mystery. 


Facsimile   Autograph  of   Louis  Joliet. 
(Posterity  has  insisted  on  eliminating  one  of  tlie  I's  from  Joliet's  name.     The 
Illinois  city  named  after  the  great  explorer  was  in  a  quandary  as  to  the  proper 
orthography  until  its  city  fathers  solemnly  decided  the  question  by  resolution.) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PLANTING   THE  JESUIT   MISSIONS. 

The  first  mission  on  Wisconsin  soil  was  established  by  Father 
Allouez  at  Chequamegon,  in  1665.  Lake  Superior  was  then  called 
Lake  Tracy,  and  the  region  was  known  as  the  land  of  the  Outaouacs 
(Ottawas).  In  that  year  four  hundred  Indians  of  various  tribes  had 
gone  to  Three  Rivers  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  the  great  fur  mart.  As 
they  were  about  to  return  to  their  forest  homes,  Allouez  determined 
to  accompany  them,  and  embarked  with  three  other  Frenchmen. 

"The  devil  formed  all  opposition  imaginable  to  our  voyage,"  he 
afterwards  noted  in  his  journal.  "One  of  their  leading  men  declared 
to  me  his  will  and  that  of  his  people,  in  arrogant  terms  and  with 
threats  of  abandoning  me  on  some  desolate  island,  if  I  dared  follow 
them  any  further." 

The  treatment  Father  Allouez  received  from  the  Indians  was 
similar  to  that  which  poor  Father  Menard  had  experienced;  they 
compelled  him  to  carry  heavy  packs  and  to  paddle  till  his  strengtn 
gave  out.  "'I  imagined  myself  a  malefactor  condemned  to  the  gal- 
leys," he  wrote. 

The  Indians  took  a  fancy  to  his  raiment,  and  his  journal  con- 
tains this  melancholy  chronicle:  "The  litttle  account  they  made  of 
me  was  the  cause  of  their  stealing  my  clothes  from  me,  and  I  had 
great  trouble  to  keep  my  hat,  the  rim  of  which  appeared  to  them 
very  good  to  protect  themselves  from  the  excessive  heat  of  the  sun. 
At  night  my  pilot  took  a  blanket  that  I  had  and  used  it  for  a  pillow, 
obliging  me  to  pass  the  night  without  any  other  covering  than  the 
foliage  of  some  tree.  When  in  addition  to  these  hardships  hunger 
comes,  it  is  a  very  severe  suffering,  which  soon  taught  me  to  take  a 
liking  to  most  bitter  roots  and  decayed  meat.  It  pleased  God  to 
make  me  endure  the  greatest  hunger  on  Fridays,  for  which  I  most 
gladly  thank  Him." 

Sometimes  the  missionary  went  supperless  to  sleep  on  his  couch 
of  leaves  or  bed  of  rock.  When  he  was  given  something  with  which 
to  dull  his  sharpened  appetite,  he  fared  but  ill,  judging  from  his  de- 
scription: "I  had  to  inure  myself  to  eat  a  certain  moss  which  grows 
on  rocks.  It  is  a  kind  of  leaf  in  the  shape  of  a  shell,  which  is 
always  covered  with  caterpillars  and  spiders.  When  boiled,  it  makes 
an  insipid  black  and  sticky  broth,  which  serves  rather  to  keep 
death  away  than  to  impart  life." 

At  Chequamegon  bay  (probably  between  the  modern  cities  of 
Ashland  and  Washburn),  a  dozen  or  more  miles  inland,  Allouez 
selected  the  site  of  his  mission,  and  built  a  wigwam  of  bark.  This 
humble  shelter  was  the  first  place  of  worship  in  Wisconsin,  as  Rad- 

67 


68  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

isson's  frail  fort  constructed  hard  by  a  few  years  before  was  the 
first  human  habitation  in  Wisconsin  built  by  white  men. 

The  field  was  not  particularly  fitted  for  the  purpose  of  a  mis 
sion.  At  the  head  of  the  bay  was  an  Indian  village  of  several  hun- 
dred lodges,  and  in  the  neighboring  fields  ears  of  Indian  maize 
gleamed  yellow  in  the  October  sun.  Here  were  gathered  the  men 
of  seven  tribes.  Allouez  found  them  in  commotion,  as  the  wilder 
spirits  were  putting  on  war  paint  for  an  expedition  against  the 
warlike  Sioux.  The  old  men  did  not  want  them  to  dig  up  the  toma- 
hawk and  convened  a  great  council,  at  which  the  priest  made  a 
fervent  address  and  produced  a  good  impression.  He  dissuaded 
them  by  liberal  presents  from  undertaking  their  scalping  party. 

La  Pointe  du  Saint  Esprit  (Mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost)  was  the 
name  given  by  Allouez  to  his  chapel  of  bark.  As  long  as  the  In- 
dians considered  the  presence  of  a  white  man  a  novelty,  they  flocked 
to  his  humble  place  of  worship;  when  that  wore  off,  the  Jesuit 
father  found  his  lot  all  but  pleasant.  For  the  medicine  men,  witli 
whom  he  appears  to  have  had  many  controversial  conflicts,  he  had 
a  genuine  feeling  of  abomination.  In  his  journal  he  calls  them 
"jugglers,"  and  gives  an  interesting  account  of  some  of  their  super- 
stitious ceremonies.  "There  is  here,"  says  he,  "a  false  and  abom- 
inable religion,  similar  in  many  things  to  that  of  some  ancient 
pagans.  I  have  seen  an  idol  set  up  in  the  middle  of  a  village,  to 
which,  among  other  presents,  they  offered  ten  dogs  in  sacrifice,  that 
this  false  god  might  vouchsafe  to  banish  elsewhere  a  malady  which 
was  depopulating  the  village. 

"For  the  rest,  as  these  people  are  dull,  they  do  not  acknowledgo 
any  deity  purely  spiritual.  They  believe  that  the  sun  is  a  man  and 
the  moon  is  his  wife;  that  snow  and  ice  are  also  human  beings,  who 
go  away  in  the  spring  and  come  back  again  in  winter;  that  the  devil 
dwells  in  snakes,  dragons  and  other  monsters;  that  crows,  hawks 
and  some  other  birds  are  manitous  and  talk  as  well  as  we  do,  pre- 
tending there  are  some  Indians  who  understand  thei^  language  just 
as  some  of  them  understand  a  little  French." 

Four  years  among  the  Indians  at  Chequamegon  discouraged 
Father  Allouez.  Conversions  were  few  and  the  life  was  hard.  He 
called  the  place  a  very  Babylon,  and  the  sorceries  of  the  medicine 
men  he  termed  "diabolical  juggleries."  He  threatened  the  sorcerers 
with  the  fires  of  hell,  and  one  of  them  responded  with  incantations 
which  were  intended  to  effect  the  death  of  the  Black  Gown.  The 
medicine  man  kept  up  his  ceremonies  for  three  hours,  but  the 
health  of  the  missionary  continued  good.  As  the  incantations 
failed,  the  medicine  men  became  personally  aggressive.  The  bark 
walls  of  the  church  were  torn  away,  the  missionary's  goods  were 
stolen  and  his  life  was  made  uncomfortable  in  many  ways.  Allouez 
bore  the  treatment  patiently  awhile  longer  and  then  abandoned  the 
post.    He  was  succeeded  by  Father  James  Marquette. 


The  Storu  of  the  State.  69 


Next  Allouez  founded  a  mission  at  Green  Bay  (1669)  and  called 
it  St.  Francis  Xavier.  Two  years  later  it  was  removed  to  the  site  of 
the  present  city  of  De  Pere,  and  in  1676  Father  Albanel  built  a  fine 
church  there.  Nicholas  Perrot  presented  to  this  church  the  silver 
soliel  or  ostensorium  which  workmen  unearthed  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century. 

Allouez  journeyed  thence  to  the  villages  of  the  Fire  Nation  on 
the  Fox.  When  he  reached  the  site  of  Appleton  he  saw  an  eclipse  of 
the  sun.  Where  Oshkosh  has  been  built  he  said  mass,  then  pro- 
ceeded up  the  Wolf  river.  Among  the  Reynards  he  established  the 
Mission  of  St.  Mark.  These  Indians  were  too  much  concerned  with 
recent  troubles  to  pay  much  attention  to  their  visitor,  for  but  two 
days  before  a  scalping  party  of  Iroquois  had  surprised  one  of  their 
villages,  slain  a  hundred  of  their  people  and  carried  away  as  cap- 
tives thirty  of  their  women. 

On  the  upper  Fox,  Allouez  preached  the  gospel  and  founded  the 
Mission  of  St.  James.  Among  the  Menomonees,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  river  bearing  their  name,  the  Mission  of  St.  Michael  was  begun 
by  him,  and  another  mission  he  located  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
Green  Bay. 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  "father  of  Wisconsin  missions" 
devoted  himself  to  his  numerous  charges,  with  some  success.  It  is 
recorded  that  2,000  Indians  embraced  the  Christian  faith  as  the  re- 
sult of  his  labors  and  that  of  his  co-workers  The  missions  in  the 
vicinity  of  Green  Bay  he  left  in  charge  of  Father  Louis  Andre,  who 
appears  to  have  had  a  genius  for  dealing  with  the  untutored  sav- 
ages. The  Relations  of  1671  and  1672  tell  how  with  a  flute  he  taught 
the  Indian  children  to  sing  the  canticles  of  the  Catholic  church,  and 
then  marched  them  through  the  villages  preaching  to  their  elders 
through  the  medium  of  their  youthful  voices. 

"Certain  spiritual  songs  which  he  sung  to  the  children  with 
French  airs,"  the  Relation  goes  on  to  say,  "pleased  these  savages 
extremely;  in  such  a  manner,  that  in  the  streets  and  in  the  cabins 
our  mysteries  were  made  public  and  were  received  there  with  ap- 
plause, and  insensibly  stamped  themselves  on  the  mind  by  means  of 
these  canticles.  This  success  gave  courage  to  the  father,  and  caused 
him  to  resolve  on  attacking  the  men  through  the  children,  and  to 
combat  with  idolatry  by  these  innocent  souls.  In  effect  he  composed 
canticles  against  the  superstitions  of  which  we  have  spoken,  and 
against  the  voices  most  opposed  to  Christianity,  and  having  taught 
them  to  the  children  by  the  sound  of  a  soft  flute,  he  went  every- 
where with  his  little  savage  musicians,  declaring  war  against  the 
jugglers,  the  dreamers,  and  those  who  had  many  wives;  and  because 
the  savages  passionately  loved  their  children  and  suffered  every- 
thing from  them,  they  allowed  the  reproaches,  although  biting, 
■which  were  made  to  them  by  these  songs,  inasmuch  as  they  pro- 
ceeded from  the  mouths  of  their  children.    It  happened  sometimes. 


70  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

that  as  the  father  was  obliged  in  the  heat  of  dispute  to  refute  the 
errors  of  these  superstitious  people,  and  to  convince  the  old  men  of 
the  falsity  and  silliness  of  their  idolatry,  it  happened,  I  say,  that 
this  troop  of  children  tired  of  hearing  such  disputes,  threw  them- 
selves among  them  and  sounding  their  canticles,  obliged  their  par- 
ents to  be  silent.  This  gave  the  father  much  joy,  who  saw  that 
God  made  use  of  these  innocent  mouths  to  confound  the  impiety  of 
their  own  parents." 

Father  Marquette  found  the  Indians  at  Chequamegon  as  obdu- 
rate as  had  Allouez.  It  was  not  an  inviting  field  to  which  the  young 
French  priest  had  come.  The  Indians  were  not  of  one  tribe,  and 
some  of  them  were  inclined  to  provoke  their  Sioux  neighbors  on  the 
West  to  war,  as  they  had  threatened  to  do  when  Allouez  first  came 
among  them.  Finally  hostilities  began,  in  1671,  and  the  invincible 
Sioux  scattered  the  warriors  at  the  Bay  like  leaves  before  a  blast  of 
autumn.  Among  the  fugitives  were  the  Tobacco  Indians  (a  branch 
of  the  Huron  tribe)  and  these  sought  refuge  oh  the  island  of  Mich- 
ilimackinac.  There  they  had  made  their  home  when  some  years  be- 
fore they  abandoned  their  Eastern  habitation  to  escape  the  furious 
onslaught  of  the  Five  Nations.  To  this  asylum,  Marquette  accom- 
panied them  on  the  migration,  and  on  the  mainland  opposite  he 
founded  the  mission  of  St.  Ignace.  He  did  not  again  become  identi- 
fied with  Wisconsin  events  until,  two  years  later,  he  accompanied 
Joliet  on  his  famous  expedition  to  the  Mississippi. 

For  one  hundred  and  seventy  years  the  Mission  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  remained  abandoned,  until  Bishop  Baraga,  in  1832,  re-estab- 
lished it  on  Madaline  island. 


^e^^  -ma^rtfU'^'^ 


Facsimile  Autograph  of  James  Marquette. 
(Although  Father  Marquette  was  connected  with  Wisconsin  Missions  but  a 
few  years,  and  his  heart  beat  warmer  for  the  impressionable  Illinois  Indians- 
than  the  less  ductile  savages  of  Wisconsin,  he  is  popularly  identified  with  this 
State  in  history.  Wisconsin  has  placed  his  statue  in  the  National  Hall  of  Statu- 
ary, and  his  name  has  been  given  to  a  county  in  this  State.  Some  of  the 
exhumed  bones  of  Father  Marquette  are  in  the  possession  of  Marquette  College, 
Milwaukee,  and  are  guarded  as  precious  relics.) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOLVING  THE  GREAT  WESTERN  MYSTERY. 

Where  a  bend  of  the  upper  Fox  river  approaches  nearest  a 
curve  of  the  picturesque  Wisconsin  river,  one  treads  upon  historic 
ground.  A  rain  drop  falling  here  may  be  carried  down  the  latter 
stream  into  the  Mississippi  river,  and  thence  into  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico; or,  perchance,  it  may  flow  with  the  rapid  flood  of  the  Fox  into 
the  volume  of  the  great  lakes,  over  the  ledge  of  Niagara,  down  the 
St,  Lawrence,  into  the  ocean  of  the  north.  Between  the  two  streams 
there  is  a  marshy  stretch,  less  than  a  mile  and  a  half  in  width,  and 
over  this  portage  the  Indian  was  wont  to  carry  his  birch  bark  canoe. 

This  portage  was  the  doorway  to  the  upper  Mississippi  river. 
Jean  Nicolet,  in  1634,  had  come  to  its  portal,  without  entering. 
Claude  Allouez  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  had  stepped  upon  its 
threshold,  but  had  not  ventured  further;  it  was  reserved  for  the 
Sieur  Louis  Joliet  and  his  priestly  companion,  James  Marquette,  to 
discover  the  upper  Mississippi  and  open  an  empire  of  marvelous 
richness  to  the  venturesome  Frenchmen  who  followed.  The  Mis- 
sissippi river  was  to  be  explored  and  settled,  not  from  the  sea  as 
were  the  streams  of  the  Atlantic  plain,  but  as  its  current  flows. 

Long  before  Joliet's  canoe  glided  from  the  Wisconsin  upon  the 
Mississippi  river,  in  1673,  Frenchmen  had  heard  from  Indians  of  the 
existence  of  the  great  water.  It  was  a  mysterious  highway  of  which 
no  white  man  knew  the  beginning  or  the  end.  It  was  surmised 
that  its  waters  mingled  with  those  of  the  Vermilion  sea  (Gulf  of 
California),  and  some  thought  that  doubtless  here  was  the  route 
leading  to  the  "wealth  of  Ormuz  and  of  Ind."  One  hundred  and 
thirty-one  years  before,  the  mailed  soldiers  of  De  Soto  had  consigned 
to  the  river's  bed  the  body  of  their  dead  chieftain;  the  memory  of 
their  terrible  march  remained  as  a  shadowy  tradition  only.  Doubt- 
less in  the  intervening  years  others  had  come  to  the  bank  of  the 
continent's  greatest  artery,  but  if  so,  no  record  remains  to  tell  of  it. 

To  Jean  Baptiste  Talon,  intendant  of  New  France,  belongs  the 
credit  for  the  conception  of  the  enterprise  that  led  to  the  discovery 
of  the  upper  Mississippi;  to  Louis  Joliet  for  the  execution  of  it;  to 
James  Marquette  for  the  preservation  of  its  incidents  in  historical 
narrative;  to  Robert  Cavelier,  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle,  the  glory  be- 
longs of  achieving  that  which  made  possible  the  exploration  and 
subsequent  settlement  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 

As  the  result  of  an  accident  whereby  Joliet's  canoe  was  over- 
turned and  all  his  notes  were  lost,  Marquette's  name  has  overshad- 
owed his  as  the  discoverer  of  the  upper  Mississippi.    Joliet  was  the 

71 


72  Leading  Emits  of  Wisconsin  History. 

head  of  the  enterprise,  and  as  such  is  entitled  to  the  distinction. 
Marquette  deserves  to  ranlt  as  the  historian  of  the  party,  for  he 
wrote  a  most  readable  account  of  the  expedition,  and  writers  of  his- 
tory have  been  compelled,  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  Joliet's 
notes,  to  rely  upon  Marquette's  narrative.  The  energetic  Talon  had 
chosen  Joliet  to  head  the  important  enterprise  as  a  man  well  fitted 
for  the  task.  He  was  30  years  old,  a  Canadian  by  birth  and  ac- 
customed from  boyhood  to  a  roving,  adventurous  life.  The  newly- 
appointed  governor  of  New  France,  the  bluff  old  Count  Frontenac, 
confirmed  this  choice,  and  Joliet  started  on  his  quest.  Frontenac 
wrote  to  France  that  "he  promised  to  find  the  Mississippi  by  way 
of  Green  Bay,  and  that  he  would  probably  make  it  clear  that  its 
outlet  was  in  the  Gulf  of  California." 


The   Griffon. 
(The  first  vessel  that  sailed  the  great  lakes  was  a  barque  of  sixty  tons  that 
moored    at   Washington    Island,    in   Green    Bay,    September,    1679.      Shortly    after 
leaving  Green  Bay  a  terrific  storm  arose.     It  is  supposed  that  the  Griffon  went 
to  the  bottom  with  all  hands,  for  she  was  never  seen  again.) 

Joliet  reached  the  mission  at  Michilimackinac  (Mackinac)  a  few 
weeks  before  Christmas,  and  decided  to  winter  here.  At  this  time 
Marquette  was  in  charge  of  the  mission  of  St.  Ignace,  and  as  the 
youthful  zealot  had  long  wanted  to  go  among  the  hospitable  Illinois 
Indians,  he  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity  of  accompanying  the 
Canadian  envoy.  In  the  long  winter  nights,  as  the  logs  blazed  and 
spluttered  on  the  hearthstone,  they  drew  maps  and  plans  as  a  guide 
for  the  journey. 

In  May,  1673,  Joliet  and  Marquette,  accompanied  by  five  French- 
men, left  the  frontier  mission.  They  occupied  two  birch  bark  canoes, 
and  their  store  of  provisions  consisted  of  a  quantity  of  Indian  corn, 
and  smoked  beef.  When  they  reached  Wisconsin,  they  first  came 
among  the  People  of  Wild  Oats,  to  whom  some  years  before  Mar- 
quette had  preached.  Here  the  travelers  heard  tales  that  would 
have  dissuaded  less  determined  men  from  going  on. 


TJie  Story  of  the  State.  73 

"They  told  me,"  observes  Marquette's  narrative,  "  that  the  Great 
river  was  exceedingly  dangerous  and  full  of  frightful  monsters  who 
devoured  men  and  canoes  together;  and  that  the  heat  was  so  great 
that  it  would  surely  cause  our  death;  that  there  is  even  a  demon 
there,  who  can  be  heard  from  afar,  who  stops  the  passage  and  en- 
gulfs all  who  dare  approach." 

At  Green  Bay — then  known  as  the  Bay  des  Puans — the  travelers 
noted  a  phenomenon  that  later  puzzled  scientists — tides  that  ebbed 
and  flowed  as  do  those  of  the  ocean.  As  they  journeyed  up  the  Fox 
river,  myriads  of  waterfowl,  bustards,  duck  and  teal,  rose  on  wing 
above  the  great  fields  of  wild  oats  whereon  they  were  feeding.  The 
voyageurs  plucked  the  herb  which  an  Indian  told  them  was  an  in- 
fallible antidote  against  the  podson  that  lies  in  the  fang  of  a  snake. 
The  French  called  the  plant,  which  produces  several  stalks  about 
a  foot  long,  and  has  pretty  long  leaves  and  a  white  blossom  re- 
sembling the  gilly-flower,  "serpant-a-sonnettes."  The  Indians 
chewed  the  root  of  it  to  prevent  the  poison  of  snakes  from  taking 
effect.  Snakes  are  said  to  have  such  an  antipathy  to  this  herb  that 
they  flee  from  one  rubbed  with  it,  and  two  or  three  drops  of  its  es- 
sence, if  placed  in  a  snake's  mouth,  proves  fatal  to  the  reptile. 

In  the  town  of  the  Fire  Nation  the  travelers  found  cordial  wel- 
come. These  people  lived  in  cabins  of  rushes,  and  in  hunting  time 
they  could  roll  them  up  and  carry  them  away  easily.  The  great 
cross  erected  by  Allouez  in  this  village  a  few  years  before  still  stood 
in  the  midst  of  the  town.  A  famine  had  threatened  the  Indians,  and 
in  gratitude  to  the  Great  Manitou  for  averting  the  misfortune,  the 
Indians  had  adorned  the  wooden  cross  with  white  skins,  red  belts 
and  bows  and  arrows. 

The  companions  were  now  near  the  portage,  and  two  guides 
showed  the  way  through  the  labyrinth  of  marshes  and  lakelots 
choked  with  waving  greenery,  for  the  river  here  was  found  so  cov- 
ered with  wild  oats  as  to  make  it  almost  impossible  to  follow  the 
channel.    They  helped  also  to  transport  their  canoes. 

At  last  they  were  on  the  threshold  of  the  great  discovery. 

As  the  canoes  floated  down  the  beautiful  Meskousing,  as  Mar- 
quette's narrative  terms  the  Wisconsin,  they  passed  vine-clad  islets, 
bunches  of  wild  grapes  peeping  from  beneath  the  foliage  of  the 
trees,  in  tempting  profusion.  Along  the  banks  hill,  wood  and  prai- 
rie succeeded  each  other  in  variety  pleasing  to  the  eye.  Startled 
deer  scampered  away  from  their  drinking  places,  and  the  large- 
antlered  moose  in  large  numbers  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Frenchmen. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1673,  the  two  canoes  entered  the  Mississippi 
river.  With  beating  hearts,  the  travelers  paddled  with  the  current, 
to  explore  the  mysterious  region  towards  the  South. 

Would  they  reach  the  Yellow  sea?  Where  would  the  current 
land  them? 


74  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

Prepared,  by  the  tales  that  had  been  told  them,  for  surprising 
experiences,  they  were  not  a  little  startled  when  they  met,  as  the 
chronicle  of  the  priest  narrates,  "a  monstrous  fish,  which  struck  so 
violently  against  our  canoe  that  I  took  it  for  a  large  tree  about  to 
knock  us  to  pieces." 

This  was  doubtless  the  catfish  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  known 
to  grow  to  an  enormous  size,  and  which  strikes  with  great  force  any 
object  in  its  way.  On  another  occasion  they  saw  what  was  probably 
an  American  tiger-cat.  To  the  alarmed  canoeists  it  appeared  to  be 
"a  monster  with  the  head  of  a  tiger,  a  pointed  snout  like  a  wild- 
cat's, a  beard  and  ears  erect,  a  grayish  head  and  neck  all  black." 

Coming  to  the  prairie  country,  they  saw  on  the  banks  great 
herds  of  buffalo,  or  pisikious  as  the  narrative  terms  them:  "Our 
men  having  killed  one,  three  of  us  had  considerable  trouble  in  mov- 
ing it.  The  head  is  very  large,  the  forehead  flat,  and  a  foot  and  a 
half  broad  between  the  horns,  which  are  exactly  like  those  of  our 
cattle,  except  that  they  are  black  and  much  larger.  Under  the  neck 
there  is  a  kind  of  large  crop  hanging  down,  and  on  the  back  a  pretty 
high  hump.  The  whole  head,  the  neck,  and  part  of  the  shoulders 
are  covered  with  a  gi'eat  mane  like  a  horse's;  it  is  a  crest  a  foot 
long,  which  renders  them  hideous,  and  falling  over  their  eyes,  pre- 
vents their  seeing  before  them.  The  rest  of  the  body  is  covered 
with  a  coarse  curly  hair  like  the  wool  of  our  sheep,  but  much 
stronger  and  thicker.  It  falls  in  summer,  and  the  skin  is  then  as 
soft  as  velvet.  At  this  time  the  Indians  employ  the  skins  to  make 
beautiful  robes,  which  they  paint  of  various  colors;  the  flesh  and 
fat  of  the  pisikious  are  excellent,  and  constitute  the  best  dish  in 
banquets.  They  are  very  fierce,  and  not  a  year  passes  without  their 
killing  some  Indian.  When  attacked,  they  take  a  man  with  their 
horns,  if  they  can,  lift  him  up  and  then  dash  him  on  the  ground, 
trample  on  him  and  kill  him.  When  you  fire  at  them  from  a  dis- 
tance with  a  gun  or  bow,  you  must  throw  yourself  on  the  ground  as 
soon  as  you  fire,  aqd  hide  in  the  grass;  for,  if  they  perceive  the  one 
who  fired,  they  rush  on  him  and  attack  him.  As  their  feet  are  large 
and  rather  short,  they  do  not  generally  go  very  fast,  except  when 
they  are  irritated.  They  are  scattered  over  the  prairies  like  herds 
of  cattle.    I  have  seen  a  band  of  400." 

The  Menomonee  or  Wild-Race  Indians  of  Wisconsin  had  told 
the  priest  about  a  terrible  monster  that  would  be  encountered.  Mar- 
quette tells  how  they  found  this  fabled  demon  of  the  river;  in  fact, 
several  of  them:  ''As  we  coasted  along  the  rocks  frightful  for  their 
height  and  length,  we  saw  two  monsters  painted  on  one  of  these 
rocks,  which  startled  us  at  first,  and  on  which  the  boldest  Indian 
dare  not  gaze  long.  They  are  as  large  as  a  calf,  with  horns  on  the 
head  like  a  deer,  a  fearful  look,  red  eyes,  bearded  like  a  tiger,  the 
face  somewhat  like  a  man's,  the  body  covered  with  scales,  and  the 


^■'-■' 


The  Story  of  the  State.  75 

tail  so  long  that  it  twice  makes  the  turn  of  the  body,  passing  over 
the  head  and  down  between  the  legs,  and  ending  at  last  in  a  fish's 
tail.  Green,  red  and  a  kind  of  black  are  the  colors  employed.  On 
the  whole,  these  two  monsters  are  so  well  painted,  that  we  could 
not  believe  any  Indian  to  have  been  the  designer,  as  good  paintersi 
in  France  would  find  it  hard  to  do  as  well;  besides  this,  they  are  so 
high  upon  the  rock  that  it  is  hard  to  get  conveniently  at  them  to 
paint  them." 

Numerous  adventures  befell  the  Frenchmen  in  their  voyage 
down  the  river;  some  tribes  proved  friendly  and  others  were  in- 
clined to  threaten  them.  When  they  reached  the  Arkansas  river, 
they  deemed  it  prudent  not  to  venture  among  the  cannibal  Indians 
of  the  lower  Mississippi.  They  had  gone  far  enough  to  learn  that 
the  great  river  disembogued  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  not  Gulf 
of  California.  Laboriously  they  pulled  their  craft  against  the  cur- 
rent, homeward  bound.  They  ascended  the  Illinois  river  and  re- 
turned to  Lake  Michigan  by  way  of  the  Des  Plaines  river.  They 
had  made  the  journey  of  nearly  2,800  miles,  from  the  mission  of  St. 
Ignace  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  and  back,  in  a  trifle  over  four 
months. 

Facsimile  Autograph  of  Henry  de  Tontt. 

(Of  all  the  voyageurs  during  the  early  French  period  of  exploration,  the  most 

picturesque   figure   was  that  of  the  one-handed   Tonty,   the   loyal   companion   of 

Robert   Cavelier    de   La   Salle.      Mrs.    Mary    Hartwell    Catherwood    has    woven   a 

romance,  "The  Story  of  Tonty,"  from  the  main  incidents  of  his  adventurous  life.) 

Marquette's  health  failed  on  the  return  journey,  and  he  sought 
rest  at  his  mission  while  Joliet  pushed  on  to  Quebec  to  report  to 
his  superiors.  While  approaching  Montreal,  his  canoe  was  upset  and 
he  narrowlj'  escaped  death.  A  young  Pawnee  slave  who  had  been 
presented  to  him  by  one  of  the  chiefs  with  whom  he  had  smoked  the 
calumet,  was  in  the  canoe  when  the  accident  occurred,  and  was 
drowned.  Joliet's  journal  and  notes  were  swept  away  and  never  re- 
covered. He  afterwards  drew  some  maps  from  memory,  but  it  re- 
mained for  Marquette  to  bequeath  to  future  generations  the  narra- 
tive of  the  expedition. 

A  sad  interest  attaches  to  the  fate  of  the  gentle  Marquette.  After 
recuperating  from  the  fatigues  of  his  journey,  he  went  among  the 
Illinois  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago.  But  his  frame  had  be- 
come so  enfeebled  that  he  felt  the  end  was  near.  He  prepared  to 
travel  to  his  mission  at  St.  Ignace,  accompanied  by  two  Frenchmen. 
Says  the  old  account:  "The  eve  of  his  death,  which  was  a  Friday, 
he  told  them,  all  radiant  with  joy,  that  it  would  take  place  on  the 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


morrow.  During  the  whole  day  he  conversed  with  them  about  the 
manner  of  his  burial,  the  way  in  which  he  should  be  laid  out,  the 
place  to  be  selected  for  his  interment;  he  told  them  how  to  arrange 
his  hands,  feet  and  face,  and  directed  them  to  raise  a  cross  over  his 
grave.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  enjoin  them,  only  three  hours  be- 
fore he  expired,  to  take  his  chapel-bell,  as  soon  as  he  was  dead,  and 
ring  it  while  they  carried  him  to  the  grave.  Of  all  this  he  spoke  so 
calmly  and  collectedly,  that  you  would  have  thought  that  he  spoke 
of  the  death  and  burial  of  another,  and  not  of  his  own." 

On  the  east  bank  of  Lake  Michigan,  at  the  mouth  of  a  river, 
they  laid  down  their  paddles  and  carried  Father  Marquette  ashore. 
Kindling  a  fire,  they  erected  for  him  a  rude  cabin  of  bark,  and  here 
he  sank  gently  into  his  last  slumber.  He  was  but  38  years  of  age 
when  he  died. 

The  remains  of  the  missionary  were  not  permitted  to  remain  in 
this  wild  spot.  A  band  of  Kiskakon  Indians  who  had  become  con- 
verted by  him  when  he  was  at  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at 
Chequamegon  Bay,  sought  his  grave,  exhumed  the  remains  and 
placed  them  in  a  box  of  birch  bark,  which  they  conveyed  to  the 
mission  of  St.  Ignace.  Nearly  thirty  canoes  comprised  the  convoy, 
the  solemn  procession  being  met  at  the  shore  by  the  priests  of  the 
mission.  With  fitting  obsequies,  the  remains  of  the  missionary  priest 
were  deposited  in  a  little  vault  in  the  middle  of  the  church.  A  fire 
destroyed  the  church  in  1705. 

Nearly  two  hundred  years  after  the  burial  of  Father  Marquette, 
in  1877,  when  the  chapel  had  long  since  been  destroyed  and  even 
the  knowledge  of  its  location  remained  but  as  a  tradition,  a  half- 
breed  engaged  in  clearing  land  at  St.  Ignace,  came  upon  the  rude 
foundation  of  a  building.  A  priest,  who  surmised  that  the  old 
church  of  Marquette  had  probably  stood  there,  made  an  investiga- 
tion that  established  the  fact.  Excavations  were  begun,  and  the 
fragments  of  the  birch  bark  casket  wherein  Father  Marquette's  re- 
mains had  rested,  were  found.  The  fragments  of  bones  were  gath- 
ered reverently.  Some  of  them  were  re-interred  under  a  monument, 
others  were  distributed  among  admirers  of  Father  Marquette  resid- 
ing in  various  parts  of  the  country.  A  neat  casket  was  provided 
as  a  receptacle  for  most  of  the  pieces  of  charred  bone,  and  this  cas- 
ket was  sent,  with  its  contents,  to  Marquette  college,  Milwaukee. 
There  they  are  now. 

Of  the  fate  of  Joliet,  the  official  head  of  the  enterprise  that  led 
to  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  river,  little  note  has  been  taken 
by  writers  of  history.  He  was  rewarded  by  the  French  govern- 
ment as  all  the  brave  Frenchmen  were  who  brought  glory  to  the 
flag  of  the  fleur  de  lis — by  neglect.  The  historian  John  Gilmary 
Shea  records  that  "the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi  was  rewarded, 
as  if  in  mockery,  with  an  island  in  the  Gulf  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
This  was  Anticosti,  and  here  Joliet  built  a  fort  and  a  dwelling  for 


The  Stori/  of  the  State. 


77 


his  family,  and  houses  for  trade.  Two  years  after  his  island  was 
taken  by  the  English  fleet  and  he  himself,  with  his  wife  and  mother- 
in-law,  probably  while  attempting  to  reach  Quebec,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Phipps,  the  English  commander.  His  vessel  and  property 
were  a  total  loss,  but  his  liberty  he  recovered  when  the  English  re- 
tired from  the  walls  of  Quebec.  Of  his  subsequent  history  there  are 
but  occasional  traces,  and  we  know  only  that  he  died  some  years 
prior  to  1737." 


JOLIET'S  MAP. 
(Considering  the  period  when  it  was  drawn,  the  Joliet  map  reproduced  here- 
with is  evidence  of  French  skill  in  cartography.  Many  later  maps  of  English 
and  Dutch  design  lack  its  clearness  and  comparative  accuracy.  Joliet's  map 
and  Marquette's  are  the  earliest  of  the  Mississippi  based  on  actual  knowledge. 
The  tablet  in  the  sketch  served  the  explorer  for  a  long  inscription  addressed  to 
the  Governor  of  New  France.) 


Father  Marquette's  narrative  does  not  constitute  one  of  the 
famous  Relations.  His  manuscript  was  sent  to  Paris,  and  nine  years 
after  the  discovery  of  the  great  river,  a  Paris  publisher  brought  It 
out,  together  with  his  map,  in  a  small  duodecimo  volume  compris- 
ing forty-three  pages.  The  map  is  undoubtedly  the  first  ever  pub- 
lished of  the  Mississippi  river.  Five  great  rivers  are  delineated 
with  surprising  accuracy — the  Arkansas,  Ohio,  Missouri,  Illinois  and 
"Wisconsin.  The  latter  is  spelled  Mescousing  in  the  narrative — 
probably  a  typographical  error  for  Mesconsin. 

The  narrative  of  Marquette  is  written  in  a  straightforward,  sim- 
ple style,  wholly  free  from  exaggeration  or  any  apparent  purpose 
to  give  anything  but  facts. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LA   SALLE   AND   HIS    COMPANIONS. 

Following  the  discovery  of  the  great  river,  there  came  to  the 
Wisconsin  region  a  notable  group  of  voyageurs.  In  all  the  annals  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  no  figure  looms  up  as  conspicuously  as  that 
of  Robert  Cavelier  de  La  Salle.  With  his  companiohs,  the  boastful 
friar  Louis  Hennepin,  and  the  brave  and  faithful  Chevalier  Henry 
de  Tonty,  he  daringly  penetrated  to  unknown  regions,  and  amid 
hardships  almost  incredible  and  in  the  face  of  difficulties  seemingly 
impossible  to  counteract,  secured  for  his  country  what  seemed  an 
empire  of  untold  richness — the  great  Mississippi  valley.  The  sol- 
dier of  fortune,  Greysolon  de  L'hut,  also  played  a  part  in  the  re- 
markable career  of  La  Salle.  The  story  of  these  men  is  as  marvel- 
ous as  woven  romance. 

Early  in  life  La  Salle  had  consecrated  himself  to  the  priesthood. 
His  nature  but  ill  fitted  him  for  seclusion  from  the  world,  and  he 
left  the  Jesuit  order  and  went  to  Canada  in  quest  of  fame  and  for- 
tune. On  the  St.  Lawrence  he  built  a  cabin,  bartered  for  furs  and 
studied  the  language  of  the  Indians.  His  dream  was  to  find  a  way 
to  China,  and  in  derision  his  frontier  trading-post  was  named  La 
Chine.  The  rapids,  a  stone's  throw  away,  retain  the  name  to  this 
day.  During  one  of  his  journeys  he  explored  the  Ohio  as  far  as  the 
falls,  where  the  city  of  Louisville  is  now  situated.  He  is  believed  to 
have  penetrated  to  the  Illinois  country,  and  the  claim  has  been  made 
for  him  that  he  reached  the  Mississippi  before  Joliet  and  Marquette. 
This  claim  is  based  on  mere  surmise,  and  it  is  very  improbable  that 
La  Salle  was  on  the  Mississippi  before  1682,  or  nine  years  later, 
when  he  made  his  famous  voyage  down  the  river  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  incidents  connected  with  that  expedition  are  closely 
allied  to  the  history  of  Wisconsin. 

Chevalier  Henry  de  Tonty,  the  lieutenant  of  La  Salle,  was  an 
Italian  in  the  French  service.  His  father  was  the  inventor  of  the 
tontine  system  of  life  insurance.  Having  incurred  the  French  king's 
displeasure,  the  elder  Tonty,  was  locked  up  in  the  Bastile,  and  his 
son  Henry  entered  the  armj^  The  latter  was  then  18  years  old.  He 
fought  bravely  in  seven  campaigns  on  board  ships  of  war  and  in 
the  galleys.  His  right  hand  having  been  shot  away  by  a  grenade, 
he  had  a  hand  made  of  iron  to  replace  the  lost  member.  Among  the 
Indians  this  metal  hand  proved  a  great  aid,  for  he  used  it  vigor- 
ously when  they  became  disorderly.  As  he  wore  the  hand  gloved, 
the  red  men  could  not  understand  how  he  could  deal  blows  so  effica- 
cious as  to  knock  out  their  teeth  or  crack  their  skulls,  and  they  re- 
garded him  as  a  wonderful  man.     Tonty  lived  in  the  wilderness  of 


The  Story  of  the  State.  79 

the  West  a  quarter  of  a  century,  his  expeditions  being  chiefly  iu 
what  are  now  the  states  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin. 

Another  of  the  companions  of  La  Salle  was  Hennepin,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  order  of  St.  Francis.  He  had  an  adventurous  spirit  and 
much  shrewdness,  but  he  was  given  to  greatly  exaggerating  his  own 
achievements  and  belittling  those  of  others.  Clad  in  his  coarse 
gown,  with  girdle  at  the  waist,  sandals  on  his  feet  and  a  portable  al- 
tar strapped  on  his  back,  Hennepin  was  a  unique  figure  in  the 
wilderness.  He  was  captured  by  the  Sioux  Indians,  but  was  rescued 
by  du  L'hut.  He  wrote  an  interesting  account  of  his  experiences, 
but  his  inordinate  vanity  caused  him  to  narrate  achievements  purely 
fictitious.  His  books  had  an  extraordinary  sale  in  Europe  and  were 
translated  into  almost  every  language  spoken  on  that  continent. 

Daniel  Greysolon  du  L'hut  was  a  cousin  of  Tonty  of  the  iron 
hand.  He  had,  like  his  cousin,  been  a  brave  soldier  in  Europe,  and 
had  served  as  a  memb.er  of  the  royal  guard.  At  the  bloody  battle  of 
Seneriffe  two  horses  were  killed  under  him.  For  some  unknov/n 
reason  he  renounced  the  splendid  opportunities  which  he  had  for 
winning  military  glory  and  chose  instead  to  become  a  wanderer 
among  the  barbarians  of  the  New  World.  For  thirty  years  this 
courageous  man  wandered  over  the  Western  country,  in  constant 
activity.  He  was  the  first  white  man  who  journeyed  in  a  canoe 
from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Mississippi  river,  his  route  being  by  way 
of  the  St.  Croix  river.  When  he  died,  the  governor  of  New  France 
wrote  to  his  government:     "He  was  a  very  honest  man." 

In  the  following  chapter,  narrating  the  exploits  of  La  Salle  and 
his  companions,  the  incidents  given  are  chiefiy  those  associated  with 
their  explorations  in  the  Wisconsin  region;  the  adventures  that  be- 
fell them  elsewhere  are  of  as  absorbing  interest,  but  are  not  prop- 
erly a  part  of  this  history. 


CHAPTER  X. 

TRAVELERS  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 

Gazijn'g  out  upon  the  waters  of  Green  Bay,  the  Pottawattomies, 
who,  in  167  ,  had  their  wigwams  pitched  on  the  islands  clustered  at 
its  mouth,  saw  a  strange  looking  object  approaching,  one  day  in 
September  of  that  year.  It  was  a  canoe  of  gigantic  size,  such  as 
they  had  never  seen  before.  Like  the  astonished  Indians  of  Hud- 
son's bay,  under  similar  circumstances,  they  marveled  greatly  to 
see  this  "house  that  walked  on  the  water." 

The  craft  that  was  making  for  harbor,  with  bellowed  sails  and 
with  the  brazen  throats  of  cannon  glaring  from  her  portholes,  was 
the  first  sailing  vessel  that  had  furrowed  the  bosom  of  the  great 
lakes.  Though  its  size  was  not  to  exceed  sixty  tons  burden,  to  the 
curious  Indians  gathered  on  the  shore  of  Washington  island  it 
seemed  like  a  huge  monster  of  the  deep  come  to  the  surface  for  a 
breathing  spell.  Aboard  the  Griffon — that  was  the  name  of  the  ves- 
sel— were  Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  La  Salle,  Friar  Hennepin  and 
two  other  Franciscans,  and  a  motley  crew  of  adventurers  whom  La 
Salle  had  hired  to  accompany  him  on  a  great  expedition  down  the 
mysterious  Mississippi.  The  vessel  had  been  built  amid  incredible 
difficulties  the  preceding  winter,  under  the  direction  of  the  lion- 
hearted  Chevalier  Henry  de  Tonty.  La  Salle  headed  the  expedition, 
the  king  of  France  having  generously  given  him  permission  to  un- 
dertake it — at  his  own  expense.  In  order  to  procure  his  outfit.  La 
Salle  had  involved  himself  heavilj'  in  debt,  hoping  to  pay  his  cred- 
itors by  securing  valuable  furs  in  the  Western  country.  He  dreamed 
of  a  great  empire  to  be  won  in  the  distant  lands  for  his  beloved 
France,  and  he  sought  to  plant  the  fleur-de-lis  in  the  remotest  parts 
of  the  unexplored  West. 

The  shipyard  of  the  Griffon  was  at  the  mouth  of  Cayuga  creek, 
near  Buffalo.  Carved  rudely  in  wood  at  the  prow  of  the  vessel  was 
a  representation  of  the  fabulous  monster — half  eagle  and  half  lion — 
whose  name  had  been  given  this  argonaut  of  fortune.  The  Griffon 
being  conspicuous  in  the  armorial  bearings  of  Count  Frontenac,  the 
christening  of  the  vessel  was  complimentary  to  this  illustrious  gov- 
ernor of  New  France.  Like  Frontenac,  La  Salle  was  bitterly  hostile 
to  the  Jesuits,  though  his  youth  had  been  spent  in  preparation  for 
donning  their  garb. 

"I  will  yet  make  the  griffin  fly  above  the  crows,"  he  declared  a.s 
he  named  his  vessel.  Count  Frontenac  was  the  griffin,  and  the  crows 
were  the  black-gowned  .Tesuits  whom  he  hated. 

The  Griffon  spread  her  sails  in  midsummer  (1679)  and  moored 
at  Washington  island  in  September.     On  Lake  Huron  a  terrific  gale 

80 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


81 


was  encountered  that  threatened  to  engulf  vessel  and  crew.  Deliv- 
ered from  this  danger,  they  anchored  between  two  steep  bluffs  at 
Michilimackinac,  famous  in  Indian  tradition  as  the  He  Rabbit  and 
the  She  Rabbit.  They  all  felt  so  thankful  not  to  be  at  the  bottom 
of  the  lake  that  while  the  Griffon  rode  at  anchor  in  the  bay  they 
went  ashore  for  religious  services.  La  Salle,  arrayed  in  his  scarlet 
cloak,  with  trimmings  of  gold  lace,  led  the  procession  and  ordered 
arms  to  be  stacked  along  the  chapel.  The  only  sinner  on  the  boat 
during  the  storm  who  was  too  hardened  to  feel  repentance  or  fear. 


Hexxepix's    Drawixg    of    a    Wisconsin    Buffalo. 

(The  adventuies  of  Hennepin  and  his  exaggerated  narrative  of  them  consti- 
tute one  of  the  readable  pages  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  history.  Hennepin 
was  a  unique  character.  With  a  portable  altar  strapped  on  his  back,  he  trudged 
through  the  woods  in  search  of  adventures.  It  was  while  a  prisoner  of  the 
Sioux  Indians  that  he  witnessed  several  great  buffalo  hunts  on  the  Wisconsin 
side  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  buffalo  ranges  of  Wisconsin  were  famous 
hunting  grounds  two  hundred  years  ago.  The  last  buffalo  in  this  State  Is  believed 
to  have  crossed  the  great  river  about  fifty  years  ago,  although  long  before  that 
time  this  species  of  game  was  nearing  extinction,  as  far  as  tile  region,  this  side 
of  the  Mississippi  River  was  concerned.) 

was  the  pilot.    While  the  others  were  kneeling  in  prayer,  he  spent 
his  time  in  blasphemy  and  in  swearing  like  a  pirate. 

On  Wisconsin  soil  La  Salle  found  a  cordial  welcome.  He  bar- 
tered with  such  success  that  his  little  vessel  was  soon  heavily 
freighted  with  beaver  furs.  Fortune  seemed  to  smile  upon  him. 
These  valuable  peltries  would  appease  his  hungry  creditors  and 
would  purchase  more  supplies  for  the  long  trip  he  had  planned.  He 
sent  the  richly-laden  barque  back  to  Montreal,  directing  the  crew 
to  rejoin  him  as  soon  as  possible  at  the  upper  end  of  Lake  Dauphin 
(Michigan). 


82  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

The  Griffon  was  never  seen  again.  Whether  she  foundered  in  a 
storm,  or  whether  the  cut-throat  crew — ripe  for  mutiny  before  their 
departure — scuttled  the  vessel  after  rifling  her  cargo,  and  then  es- 
caped to  the  Indians  of  the  North,  forever  remained  a  mystery. 

"They  set  sail  on  the  18th  of  September  with  a  very  favorable 
light  wind,"  afterward  wrote  the  Franciscan  friar,  "making  their 
adieu  by  firing  a  single  cannon;  and  we  were  never  afterward  able 
to  learn  what  course  they  had  taken,  and  though  there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  she  perished,  we  were  never  able  to  learn  any  other  cir- 
cumstances of  their  shipwreck  than  the  following:  The  barque  hav- 
ing anchored  north  of  Lake  Dauphin  (Michigan),  the  pilot  against 
the  advice  of  some  Indians,  who  assured  him  that  there  was  a 
great  storm  in  the  middle  of  the  lake,  resolved  to  continue  his  voy- 
age, without  considering  that  the  sheltered  position  where  he  lay 
prevented  him  knowing  the  force  of  the  wind.  He  had  scarcely  sailed 
a  quarter  of  a  league  from  the  coast,  when  these  Indians  saw  the 
barque  tossing  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  unable  to  resist  the 
tempest;  so  that  in  a  short  time  they  lost  sight  of  her,  and  they  be- 
lieve she  was  either  driven  on  some  sandbank,  or  that  she  found- 
ered. We  did  not  learn  all  this  till  the  next  year.  This  barque  cost 
more  than  40,000  livres  in  goods,  tools  and  peltries  as  well  as  men 
and  rigging  imported  into  Canada  from  France,  and  transported 
from  Montreal  to  Ft.  Frontenac  in  canoes." 

Unconscious  of  the  fate  that  had  befallen  his  vessel.  La  Salle 
and  his  men  journeyed  in  canoes  down  the  west  shore  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. The  same  storm  that  doubtless  sent  the  Griffon  to  the  bottom 
was  experienced  by  them.  The  loquacious  Hennepin  jotted  down 
the  notes  for  the  following  description  of  the  treacherous  storms 
that  on  Lake  Michigan  seem  born  from  sunshine,  so  quickly  do 
they  gather: 

"Amid  the  most  beautiful  calm  in  the  world,  a  storm  arose 
which  endangered  our  lives,  and  which  made  us  fear  for  the  barque, 
and  more  for  ourselves.  We  completed  this  great  passage  amid  the 
darkness  of  night,  calling  to  one  another  so  as  not  to  part  com- 
pany. The  water  often  entered  our  canoes,  and  the  impetuous  wind 
lasted  four  days  with  a  fury  like  the  greatest  tempests  of  ocean. 
*  *  *  We  were  forced  to  land  on  a  bare  rock,  on  which  we  en- 
dured the  rain  and  snow  for  two  days." 

Bad  weather  pursued  the  canoeists,  and  early  in  October  they 
came  to  a  place  which  from  contemporary  descriptions  is  assumed 
to  have  been  the  bay  of  Milwaukee.  A  village  of  the  Pottawatta- 
mies  was  located  here,  and  as  the  store  of  Indian  corn  and  squashes 
was  well-nigh  exhausted,  it  was  deemed  prudent  to  replenish  the 
supplies  and  to  seek  shelter  from  the  storm.  The  waves  rolled  high 
and  as  the  canoes  were  tossed  about  like  shells,  the  Indians,  gath- 
ered on  the  shore  to  haul  them  in.     La  Salle  feared  to  land,  believ- 


The  Story  of  the  State.  83 


ing  his  goods  would  be  seized,  and  went  some  distance  further 
despite  their  peril;  then,  jumping  waist-high  into  the  water,  the  men 
dragged  the  canoes  ashore.  To  prevent  a  surprise,  the  party  posted 
themselves  on  an  eminence,  presumably  where  Juneau  park  is,  and 
several  men  cautiously  wended  their  way  to  the  Indian  village  to 
barter  for  provisions.  They  found  it  abandoned;  the  Indians,  non- 
plussed by  the  behavior  of  the  Frenchmen  in  not  landing  where  thoy 
were,  had  taken  the  alarm.  The  men  thereupon  helped  themselves 
to  the  corn  in  the  cabins,  and  by  way  of  compensation  left  a  quan- 
tity of  such  articles  as  were  customarily  employed  in  Indian  barter. 

Returning  to  the  camp  on  the  bluff  the  messengers  found  their 
companions  there  suspiciously  watching  the  movements  of  a  score 
of  Indians,  who  were  armed  with  bows,  arrows  and  clubs.  On  pro- 
ducing a  calumet,  the  Indians  began  to  dance  in  sign  of  friendship. 
They  manifested  no  anger  because  corn  had  been  taken  from  their 
village,  and  sent  to  the  village  for  more.  La  Salle  was  distrustful, 
despite  these  friendly  manifestations.  Trees  were  felled  to  serve  as 
a  shelter  in  case  of  attack,  and  the  men  passed  the  night  under  arms. 

The  next  day  the  old  men  of  the  village  came  and  feasted  the 
French;  La  Salle  made  a  number  of  presents  and  the  journey  was 
resumed.  Passing  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  river  the  head  of  the 
lake  was  rounded,  and  where  the  St.  Joseph  river  empties  a  rude 
stockade  was  built.  Instructing  the  men  he  left  here  to  forward  to 
him  the  supplies  from  the  Griffon,  La  Salle,  Tonty  and  Hennepin 
pursued  their  journey  towards  the  Mississippi  river,  going  by  way 
of  the  Kankakee  and  Illinois  rivers. 

On  the  shore  of  Lake  Peoria,  among  the  Illinois  Indians,  a  fort 
was  built.  La  Salle  called  it  Fort  Crevecoeur — the  Fort  of  the 
Broken  Heart.  There  was  ample  ground  for  discouragement.  No 
word  came  to  the  anxious  voyageurs  concerning  the  Griffon.  Let- 
ters had  been  suspended  conspicuously  from  the  branches  of  trees 
along  the  route  to  guide  expected  messengers  upon  the  return  of  the 
vessel. 

But  no  messengers  came. 

Instead,  the  demeanor  of  the  Indians  gave  ground  for  the  belief 
that  the  emissaries  of  La  Salle's  enemies  had  followed  him  to  these 
remote  regions. 

So  it  proved. 

Under  cover  of  night  a  Wisconsin  Indian  entered  the  village  and 
in  a  secret  council  of  the  chiefs  poisoned  their  good  will  by  declar- 
ing that  the  strangers  enjoying  their  hospitality  were  agents  come 
to  betray  them  to  their  dreaded  foes — the  Iroquois.  He  then  re- 
turned to  his  Wisconsin  wilderness  as  silently  as  he  had  come. 

When  La  Salle  and  Tonty  sought  to  enlist  the  Illinois  chiefs  in 
their  Mississippi  exploration,  the  Indians  responded  by  describing 
with  the  picturesque  exaggeration  appertaining  to  their  phraseology,. 


84  Leadintj  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

the  terrible  dangers  that  would  have  to  be  encountered.  Alarmed 
by  their  tales  the  insubordination  of  the  miserable  crew  accom- 
panying La  Salle  and  Tonty  came  to  the  surface.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  poison  La  Salle.  Some  of  the  men  deserted  and  their  de- 
parture redoubled  the  suspicions  of  the  Illinois  that  treachery  was 
meditated. 

Finally  La  Salle's  impatience  concerning  the  Griffon  and  its  ex- 
pected supplies  became  so  great  that  he  determined  on  a  journey 
afoot  to  Montreal  to  learn  what  had  become  of  his  vessel.  He  left 
Chevalier  Tonty  in  command,  and  sent  Hennepin  and  two  com- 
panions down  the  river  with  instructions  to  go  to  the  Mississippi 
and  explore  its  northern  waters.  Most  of  the  Frenchmen  deserted 
Tonty  not  long  after,  and  he  spent  the  fall  in  making  friends  with 
the  Illinois  Indians.  In  the  fall  a  war  party  of  the  dreaded  Iroquois 
Indians  appeared.  Tonty  tried  to  protect  the  Illinois  and  almost 
lost  his  life  in  consequence.  Thereupon  he  and  his  five  remaining 
companions  sought  safety  by  departing  in  a  leaky  canoe.  G'reen 
Bay  was  the  objective  point. 

While  pursuing  their  toilsome  way  one  of  the  two  Recollect 
priests  of  the  party  lost  his  life.  They  had  landed  to  repair  the 
leaky  canoe,  and  Father  Gabriel  retired  to  a  leafy  arbor  for  medita- 
tion and  pi-ayer.  He  never  returned,  and  his  companions  in  vain 
sought  for  him.  Years  afterwards  the  breviary  of  Father  Gabriel 
was  found  among  the  Kickapoo  Indians  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  mys- 
tery of  his  fate  became  known.  While  absorbed  in  prayer,  he  had 
been  discovered  by  a  wandering  band  of  these  Indians,  and  ihey 
cruelly  crushed  in  hie  skull  with  a  club,  scalped  him  and  threw  his 
body  into  a  deep  hole. 

It  was  unfortunate  for  Tonty  that  he  sought  succor  at  Green 
Bay,  instead  of  going  by  the  longer  route  along  the  opposite  shore 
of  Lake  Michigan,  to  Michilimackinac.  He  thus  missed  La  Salle, 
who  was  hurrying  along  that  route  with  reinforcements. 

In  Wisconsin  Tonty  and  his  men  fared  but  ill.  For  days  they 
skirted  along  the  lake  shore,  living  on  nuts,  roots  and  wild  garlic 
which  they  dug  from  under  the  frozen  snow.  It  grew  bitterly  cold, 
their  footgear  gave  cut  and  they  improvised  moccasins  by  cutting 
the  beaver  mantle  of  poor  Father  Gabriel  into  strips,  which  they 
tied  on  with  thongs  made  of  the  same  material.  For  fifteen  daj's 
they  subsisted  on  the  scanty  fare  they  dug  out  of  the  frozen  ground, 
when  the  providential  killing  of  a  stag  gave  them  renewed  courage 
and  sustenance. 

The  Sieur  de  Boisrondet  became  lost  in  the  forest  and  for  ten 
days  was  looked  upon  as  forever  lost  by  his  dispirited  companions. 
When  he  rejoined  them  he  told  how  he  had  lived  alone  in  the  woods, 
armed  with  a  musket,  but  unprovided  with  flint  and  bullets.  In  his 
extremity  he  had  melted  a  pewter  dish  into  pellets  and  with  the 
touch  of  a  live  coal  successfully  discharged  his  musket  at  a  flock  of 


The  Story  of  the  State.  85 


wild  turkeys.  Thus  he  had  kept  alive  his  emaciated  frame  till  he 
found  his  companions. 

When  at  last  the  eyes  of  the  weary  travelers  were  gladdened  by 
the  sight  of  an  Indian  village,  new  disappointments  awaited  them; 
the  village  was  deserted.  The  famished  men  eagerly  gathered  a  few 
handfuls  of  scattered  corn  and  a  few  frozen  gourds.  While  search- 
ing for  more,  a  belated  member  of  the  party  came  up  and  began  de- 
vouring the  provisions,  which  he  supposed  had  been  left  there  fo^ 
him.  When  the  gleaners  returned,  they  found  he  had  not  spared 
the  corn  and  the  gourds. 

"We  had  much  pleasure  in  seeing  him  again,  but  little  to  see 
our  provisions  partly  consumed,"  Tonty  remarks  in  his  memoir  of 
the  journey. 

Following  another  Indian  trail,  the  weary  travelers  reached  a 
second  village.  The  Indians  had  departed,  leaving  the  slumbering 
embers  of  a  fire.  This  was  about  the  place  where  the  Sturgeon  Bay 
canal  opens  into  Lake  Michigan.  In  the  hope  of  coming  upon  the 
Indians,  the  weary  men  made  a  portage  to  Sturgeon  creek.  Failing 
to  come  upon  the  savages,  they  determined  to  go  back  to  the  Indian 
village  to  secure  at  least  the  comfort  of  dying  by  a  fire. 

They  were  now  in  their  last  extremity.  Tonty  was  attacked  by 
a  fever  and  his  legs  were  swollen  terribly.  In  his  hunger  one  of 
the  men  had  made  a  meal  of  part  of  Father  Gabriel's  mantle  of  hide, 
and  suffered  so  excruciatingly  from  indigestion  as  to  be  unable  to 
proceed.  The  creek  had  frozen  so  as  to  render  navigation  by  canoe 
impossible.  The  last  hope  seemed  to  be  gone,  when  two  Indians 
chanced  that  way  and  brought  the  long  sought  relief  to  the  famish- 
ing men.  Among  the  well-disposed  Pottawattamies,  in  what  is  now 
the  peninsula  of  Door  County,  Wis.,  Tonty  spent  the  winter  and 
recuperated  from  the  hardships  of  his  terrible  journey.  In  the 
spring  he  crossed  to  Michilimackinac.  To  their  mutual  joy,  Tonty 
and  La  Salle  there  met  and  told  each  other  what  adventures  had 
befallen  each,  since  their  parting  at  Fort  Crevecoeur,  twelve  months 
before. 

Subsequent  events  in  the  lives  of  La  Salle  and  Tonty  were  less 
intimately  associated  with  the  Wisconsin  region.  In  1682,  they  un- 
dertook their  second  expedition  down  the  Mississippi,  reaching  Its 
mouth  after  many  exciting  adventures,  and  taking  possession  in  the 
name  of  Louis  XIV.  of  all  the  country  drained  by  its  streams — an 
empire  reaching  from  the  Alleghenies  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  A 
couple  of  years  later  the  enterprising  La  Salle  endeavored  to  reach 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  by  vessel  from  France  and  was  cast 
away  on  the  inhospitable  shore  of  Texas.  Some  of  his  men  shot 
him  from  ambush,  and  his  unburied  bones  were  left  to  bleach  un- 
der a  Southern  sun.  His  faithful  friend  Tonty  had  before  this  been 
made  commander  of  the  fort  on  the  Illinofs  river  known  later  as 
"Starved  Rock."    There  he  ruled  his  savage  vassals  for  many  years. 


CHAPTER  XL 
FRIAR  Hennepin's  adventures. 

It  took  Friar  Hennepin  and  his  two  Frenchmen  many  days  to 
reach  Wisconsin  soil  after  leaving  the  Fort  of  the  Broken  Heart, 
for  when  they  drifted  to  the  junction  of  the  Illinois  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi, great  masses  of  ice  were  floating  down  the  latter.  They 
passed  the  Wisconsin  and  Black  rivers,  and  when  they  reached  the 
great  expansion  of  the  Mississippi  river  called  Lake  Pepin,  Indians 
made  them  prisoners.  Hennepin  called  it  the  Lake  of  Tears,  be- 
cause the  Indians  who  had  taken  him  wept  the  whole  night  to  in- 
duce the  other  warriors  to  consent  to  the  death  of  the  captives. 
Their  lives  were  spared,  and  they  were  taken  to  Minnesota  villages 
of  the  Sioux,  where  the  three  Frenchmen  had  many  curious  experi- 
ences. On  the  way  there,  they  witnessed  a  great  buffalo  hunt  on 
the  Wisconsin  side  of  the  river.  In  Hennepin's  narrative  he  describes 
how  "these  Indians  at  times  sent  their  best  runners  by  land  to  chase 
the  herds  of  wild  cattle  on  the  water  side;  as  these  animals  crossed 
the  river,  they  sometimes  killed  forty  or  fifty,  merely  to  take  the 
tongue  and  most  delicate  morsels,  leaving  the  rest,  with  which  they 
would  not  burden  themselves,  so  as  to  travel  more  rapidly.  We 
sometimes  indeed  ate  good  pieces,  but  without  bread,  wine  or  salt, 
and  without  spice  or  other  seasoning." 

Sometimes  the  party  feasted  right  royally,  and  again  went 
twenty-four  hours  at  a  stretch  without  eating.  Hennepin  had  a 
robust  appetite  and  this  fasting  did  not  suit  him. 

"If  a  religious  in  Europe  underwent  as  many  hardships  and 
labors,  and  practiced  abstinences  like  those  wt  were  often  obliged 
to  suffer  in  America,  no  other  proof  would  be  needed  for  his  canon- 
ization," ruefully  observed  the  Franciscan. 

An  Indian  chief  named  Aquipaguetin  adopted  Hennepin  as  his 
son,  and  from  that  time  on  the  friar's  life  was  made  most  miserable. 
While  on  a  great  buffalo  hunt  in  Wisconsin,  with  their  Indian  cap- 
tors, Hennepin  and  one  of  the  Frenchmen  tried  to  escape  to  the 
Wisconsin  river.  They  hoped  to  find  some  of  La  Salle's  men.  They 
suffered  much  for  want  of  provisions.  They  captured  a  turtle,  and 
while  Hennepin  endeavored  to  cut  off  Its  head,  the  turtle  almost 
snapped  off  one  of  his  fingers.  They  chanced  upon  a  herd  of  sixty 
buffaloes  crossing  the  river,  chased  the  animals  to  an  island,  and 
there  killed  one.  Hennepin  cooked  little  pieces  of  the  fat  meat  in 
an  earthen  pot,  and  as  they  had  fasted  for  twenty-four  hours,  both 
ate  so  voraciously  as  to  become  ill.  Their  distress  lasted  two  days 
and  then  they  found  the  rest  of  the  buffalo  meat  so  tainted  that  they 
could  not  eat  it.    Pursuing  their  way  and  wondering  where  their 


■•M 


AHjiKv 


The  Story  of  the  State.  87 

next  meal  would  come  from,  an  eagle  providentially  dropped  a  large 
carp  which  it  was  carrying  in  its  claws  to  feed  the  eaglets  in  its 
eyrie  nest.  Again  they  discerned  an  otter  feeding  on  a  huge  spade 
fish,  and  robbed  it  of  its  prey.  When  his  companion  saw  the  large 
fish  "with  a  kind  of  paddle  or  beak  five  fingers  broad  and  a  foot  and 
a  half  long  running  from  the  head,"  his  superstitious  fears  were 
aroused.    He  thought  it  was  "a  devil  in  the  paws  of  that  otter." 

"But  his  fright  did  not  prevent  our  eating  this  monstrous  fish, 
which  we  found  very  good,"  adds  the  reverend  chronicler,  whose  ap- 
petite never  failed  him. 

To  the  consternation  of  Hennepin,  as  they  neared  the  Wisconsin 
river,  there  suddenly  appeared  on  the  scene  his  savage  foster  father 
and  ten  warriors.  Hennepin's  companion  was  away  on  a  hunt  for 
food,  and  the  friar  was  reposing  on  the  bank  of  the  river  under  a 
canopy  improvised  with  an  old  blanket.  When  he  saw  Aquipaguetin, 
he  thought  his  last  hour  had  come.  As  Hennepin  afterwards  told 
the  story,  the  Indian  "seeing  me  alone  came  up,  tomahawk  in  hand. 
I  laid  hold  of  two  pocket  pistols  which  the  Picard  had  got  back 
from  the  Indians,  and  a  knife,  not  intending  to  kill  this  would-be- 
Indian  father  of  mine,  but  only  to  frighten  him." 

Hennepin  doubtless  exaggerated  this  incident,  for  there  was  no 
bloodshed.  Once  more  a  prisoner,  he  accompanied  the  Indians  on 
a  great  buffalo  hunt  in  Wisconsin,  where  they  killed,  at  different 
times,  "as  many  as  a  hundred  and  twenty  buffaloes." 

En  route  to  the  Indian  villages  with  the  booty  of  the  chase,  the 
Sieur  du  L'hut  made  his  appearance  with  a  party  of  Frenchmen  and 
demanded  the  release  of  the  Franciscan  and  his  companions.  This 
brave  soldier  of  fortune  had  great  influence  over  the  Indians,  and 
Hennepin  was  released  from  the  bondage  of  his  tyrannical  foster 
father. 

For  a  year  and  a  half,  the  friar  had  been  virtually  a  slave.  He 
now  accompanied  du  L'hut  on  a  westward  expedition,  and  when  that 
explorer  decided  to  return  to  Green  Bay,  went  with  him.  An  old 
chief  traced  for  them  a  route  identical  with  that  pursued  by  Joliet 
when  he  went  to  the  Mississippi.  Hennepin's  account  gives  these 
incidents  of  the  trip  in  Wisconsin: 

"We  stopped  near  Ousconsin  river  to  smoke  some  meat;  three 
Indians  coming  from  the  nations  we  had  left,  told  us  that  their  great 
chief  named  the  Pierced  Pine,  having  heard  that  one  of  the  chiefs 
of  his  nation  wished  to  pursue  and  kill  us,  had  entered  his  cabin 
and  tomahawked  him,  to  prevent  his  pernicious  design.  We  regaled 
these  three  Indians  with  meat." 

Journeying  on  for  two  days  tne  Frenchmen  "perceived  an  army 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  canoes,  filled  with  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  warriors;  we  thought  that  those  who  brought  the  preceding 
news  were  spies,  for  instead  of  descending  the  river  upon  leaving  us. 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


they  ascended  to  tell  their  people.  The  chiefs  of  this  little  army 
visited  us,  and  treated  us  very  kindly." 

At  the  portage  they  stopped  to  mark  crosses  on  the  trunks  of  the 
trees,  and  reached  Green  Bay  without  further  mishap.  Hennepin 
returned  to  Europe,  where  he  published  his  book  of  adventures — 
some  of  them  true,  and  some  the  creation  of  his  imagination.  Du 
L'hut  remained  in  the  West  and  ended  his  days  in  the  wilderness, 
after  experiencing  many  thrilling  adventures. 

Other  travelers  came  to  Wisconsin  in  search  of  adventure  and 
fortune.  One  Baron  La  Hontan  went  as  far  as  the  Mississippi  in 
1689,  and  wrote  a  book  containing  more  fiction  than  Hennepin's.  An- 
other traveler  was  a  Frenchman  named  Pierre  Le  Sueur,  who  went 
down  the  Fox-Wisconsin  route  and  reached  the  Sioux  country,  in 
1683.  Ten  years  later  he  built  a  fort  at  Chequamegon  Bay,  and  an- 
other on  an  island  in  the  Mississippi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix 
river.  He  also  worked  the  lead  diggings  in  the  southwestern  corner 
of  the  state. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Fox- Wisconsin 
route  became  closed  to  travelers  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the 
Fox  Indians.  Father  St.  Cosme,  who  had  planned  to  go  to  the 
Mississippi  from  Green  Bay  by  that  route,  was  compelled  to  go  along 
the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  closing  of  this  important 
waterway  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  great  Fox  Indian  war. 


PART  m. 


UNDER  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  DOMINION. 


J-       Wo 


CHAPTER  I. 

FIRE   BRANDS    OF   THE  WEST. 

No  EVENT  in  the  annals  of  Western  Indian  warfare  bears  a  paral- 
lel to  the  savage  ferocity  of  the  long  war  of  extermination  carrried 
on  by  the  Frenchmen  against  the  Outagamies  of  Wisconsin — the 
Musquakies  as  they  called  themselves;  les  Renards,  as  the  French 
called  them;  the  Foxes,  as  they  were  termed  by  the  English.  Neither 
the  Pequot  war  of  New  England  nor  the  tireless  pursuit  of  the  South- 
ern Seminoles  witnessed  such  scenes  of  barbaric  cruelty  as  occurred 
during  the  great  conflict  with  the  Foxes.  For  a  period  of  thirty 
years,  Frenchmen  hunted  the  harried  fugitives  from  one  place  to 
another.  Firebrand  and  famine  alike  proved  unavailing  to  sweep 
off  the  face  of  the  earth  these  war-like  Indians,  "passionate  and  un- 
tamable, springing  into  new  life  from  every  defeat,  and,  though  re- 
duced in  the  number  of  their  warriors,  yet  present  everywhere  by 
their  ferocious  enterprise  and  savage  character."  Indian  and  white 
man  vied  with  each  other  in  acts  of  demon-like  cruelty;  even  women 
and  children  suffered  the  horrors  of  death  at  the  stake. 

It  it  not  easy  to  determine  the  origin  of  the  hatred  manifested 
by  the  Foxes  towards  the  French;  doubtless  a  series  of  events  con- 
tributed to  this  feeling,  rather  than  any  one  act,  for  the  Fox  tribe 
was  the  only  one  of  the  great  Algonkin  family  which  did  not  fra- 
ternize with  the  French.  Nicholas  Perrot  was  the  only  Frenchman 
for  whom  they  manifested  friendship,  and  in  his  case  a  display  of 
heroism  in  rescuing  a  daughter  of  a  Fox  chief  from  their  enemies 
was  responsible  for  this  feeling  of  friendship. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  grievance  of  the  Foxes  that  their  ene- 
mies among  neighboring  tribes  were  supplied  with  nrearms  by  the 
French  traders.  They  also  claimed  to  have  been  ill-treated  on  the 
occasion  of  a  visit  to  Montreal.  The  ill-feeling  thus  engendered  grew 
more  bitter  as  one  act  of  reprisal  brought  on  another.  At  last  the 
Foxes  grew  so  insolent  that  they  took  possession  of  the  river  high- 
way that  bears  their  name,  and  levied  tribute  on  all  who  passed 
that  way.  Their  demands  grew  so  extortionate  as  to  threaten  the 
ruin  of  the  great  fur  trade. 

In  his  "Seventy-two  Years'  Recollections  of  Wisconsin,"  Augus- 
tin  Grignon  narrates  that  the  Foxes  were  located  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Fox  river,  some  thirty-seven  miles  above  Green  Bay. 
"Here  they  made  it  a  point,  whenever  a  trader's  boat  approached,  to 
place  a  torch  upon  the  bank,  as  a  signal  for  the  traders  to  come 

91 


92 


Leading  Events  of  ^Visconsin  History. 


ashore  and  pay  the  customary  tribute,  which  they  exacted  from  all. 
To  refuse  this  tribute  was  sure  to  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  Foxes, 
and  robbery  would  be  the  mildest  punishment  inflicted.  This 
haughty,  imperious  conduct  of  the  Foxes  was  a  source  of  no  little 


^^Awrl.eiJ\oy 


LANGLADE'S    COMMISSION    FROM    KING   LOUIS    XV. 
(The  Original  is  in  Possession  of  Mrs.  Morgan  L.  Martin  of  Green  Bay.) 
Following  Is  the  wording  of  Langlade's  Commission: 

DE    PAR     LE    ROT. 

Sa  Majeste  ayant  fait  choix  du  Sr.  Langlade  pour  serv'ir  en  qualite  de  Lieu- 
tenant reforme  a  la  suite  des  troupes  entretenues  en  Canada,  Bile  mande  an 
Gouverneur,  Son  Lieutenant-general  de  la  Nouvello  France,  de  le  recevoir  et  de 
le  faire  reconnaitre  en  la  dite  qualite  de  Lieutenant  reforme  de  tout  ceux  et 
ainsy  qu'il  appartiendra.  Fait  a  Versailles,  le  pr.  fevrier  1760.  LOUIS. 

annoyance  to  the  traders,  who  made  their  complaints  to  the  com- 
mandants of  the  Western  posts,  and  in  due  time  these  grievances 
reached  the  ears  of  the  governor  of  Canada." 

So  bold  had  these  firebrands  become  in  1712  that  they  planned 
to  destroy  Detroit,  then  a  garrison  of  thirty  men.     Friendly  Indians 


I 


The  Story  of  the  State.  93 

came  to  the  rescue  of  the  French  and  the  invaders  were  surrounded. 
They  had  dug  holes  in  the  ground  and  here  they  hid  themselves,  till 
one  dark  and  rainy  night  they  managed  to  elude  their  foes.  Near 
Lake  St.  Claire  the  Foxes  were  overtaken  and  a  desperate  fight  en- 
sued. One  thousand  men,  women  and  children — so  the  old  accounts 
say — lost  their  lives  in  this  engagement.  The  remnant  of  the  band 
hurried  back  to  their  Wisconsin  villages.  Here  they  diligently 
sought  to  unite  the  tribes  in  a  confederacy  for  a  general  attack  on 
the  French.  So  threatening  seemed  the  danger  that  the  authorities 
at  Montreal  dispatched  a  considerable  force  to  Wisconsin,  under  com- 
mand of  the  king's  lieutenant  at  Quebec,  Sieur  de  Louvigny. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Wisconsin,  an  armed  military 
force  with  hostile  intent  appeared  within  its  borders.  The  commanQ 
comprised  800  men,  some  of  them  Indians  who  joined  the  standard 
of  the  French  en  route  from  Quebec.  Thirteen  canoes  of  Iroquois 
opposed  their  passage,  but  were  defeated.  One  of  the  prisoners  was 
roasted  and  eaten  by  the  Ottawas. 

Sieur  de  Louvigny  started  on  his  war  of  extermination  with 
great  energy.  The  command  left  Quebec  in  March,  1716,  and  the 
king's  lieutenant  urged  the  canoes  forward  so  as  to  inspire  his  In- 
dian allies  with  his  earnestness.  At  Michilimackinac  the  report  was 
given  out  that  not  a  single  member  of  the  Fox  tribe  would  be  spared. 
Evidently  the  Foxes  also  deemed  the  situation  serious,  for  they  pre- 
pared to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible.  On  Fox  river,  at  the 
place  known  as  Butte  des  Morts  (Hill  of  the  Dead)  they  erected  a 
stockade.  In  the  rear  they  dug  a  ditch,  and  a  triple  range  of  oak 
palisades  served  as  a  protection  to  those  within.  Five  hundred  war- 
riors and  three  thousand  women,  if  the  old  accounts  are  trustworthy, 
here  barricaded  themselves  and  awaited  the  coming  of  the  French. 

The  siege  began  before  three  hundred  warriors  who  were  com- 
ing to  reinforce  the  Foxes  had  arrived.  The  Indians  had  constructed 
their  fort  with  such  military  genius  that  it  seemed  a  foolhardy  un- 
dertaking to  attempt  to  storm  it.  De  Louvigny  ordered  his  two 
field  pieces  and  one  grenade  mortar  to  play  on  the  fort,  but  the 
triple  row  of  oaken  palisades  could  not  be  battered  down.  He  de- 
termined to  force  the  fort  by  means  of  mines. 

"After  three  days  of  open  trenches,  sustained  by  continuous  fire 
of  fusileers  with  two  pieces  of  cannon  and  a  grenade  mortar,  they 
were  reduced  to  ask  for  peace,"  Louvigny  wrote  in  his  oSicial  ac- 
count. "The  promptitude  with  which  the  officers  who  were  in  this 
action  pushed  forward  the  trenches  that  I  had  opened  at  only  seventy 
yards  from  their  fort,  made  the  enemy  fear  the  third  night  that  they 
would  be  taken." 

As  Louvigny  was  about  to  explode  two  mines,  the  humbled 
Foxes  sent  a  proposition  for  peace.  It  was  rejected.  A  second  time 
the  Foxes  sued  for  peace,  offering  following  terms  of  capitulation: 


94  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

1.  The  Foxes  and  allies  agreed  to  make  peace  with  the  French 
and  their  Indian  confederates. 

2.  The  Foxes  agreed  to  release  all  their  prisoners. 

3.  Every  Frenchman  whom  the  Foxes  had  killed  was  to  be  re- 
placed by  a  slave,  such  slaves  to  be  prisoners  taken  from  distant  na- 
tions with  whom  they  were  at  war. 

4.  The  Foxes  agreed  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  war  by  the 
product  of  the  ohase. 

These  conditions  were  accepted  by  Louvigny,  though  the  boast 
had  been  made  that  nothing  less  than  the  utter  extermination  of  the 
Fox  nation  would  satisfy  the  French.  The  brave  Chief  Pemoussa, 
who  had  led  the  attack  on  Detroit,  and  five  other  chiefs,  accompanied 
the  victor  to  Montreal,  as  hostages,  and  to  ratify  the  treaty. 

Small-pox  was  decimating  the  colony  that  year,  and  to  this 
scourge  three  of  the  hostages  succumbed.  The  famous  war  chief 
Pemoussa  was  one  of  the  victims.  Louvigny,  fearful  that  the  Foxes 
would  believe  that  the  hostages  had  been  betrayed  to  their  death, 
hastened  with  one  of  the  survivors  to  the  Fox  river.  A  rich  store 
of  presents  assuaged  the  grief  of  the  Foxes  for  their  dead  chieftains, 
and  after  the  usual  ceremonials  of  the  tribe  in  grieving  for  the  dead, 
lasting  several  days,  the  calumet  was  smoked  and  songs  of  peace 
were  sung. 

It  was  but  a  hollow  peace.  The  Foxes  continued  their  depreda- 
tions, and  failed  to  carry  out  the  treaty  they  had  made.  In  1728  the 
Sieur  de  Lignery  was  sent  to  Wisconsin  to  humble  the  haughty 
Foxes.  Fifteen  hundred  men  made  the  journey  in  canoes.  The 
plan  was  to  surprise  the  Foxes  in  their  villages,  and  to  give  no  quar- 
ter. As  one  of  the  governors  of  New  France  had  written  sometime 
before  this:  "His  majesty  is  persuaded  of  the  necessity  of  destroy- 
ing that  nation,  as  it  cannot  be  kept  quiet." 

The  commandant  of  the  450  French  and  1,000  Indian  allies  acted 
with  great  deliberation.  Delays  that  were  unaccountable  occurred 
along  the  way,  and  it  was  suspected  that  the  officer's  lack  of  haste 
was  due  to  potations  in  the  privacy  of  his  tent.  At  any  rate,  such 
slow  progress  was  made,  that  long  before  the  army  arrived  at  Green 
Bay  the  Foxes  had  been  apprised  of  their  coming,  and  had  fled. 
They  had  been  lodged  at  the  village  of  the  Sac  Indians,  near  Fort  St. 
Francis  (Green  Bay),  and  de  Lignery  surrounded  the  wigwams,  not 
knowing  that  the  Foxes  had  decamped  in  anticipation  of  his  coming. 
But  four  Indians  were  found  there,  and  these  unfortunates  were 
turned  over  to  the  allies  of  the  French.  After  diverting  themselves 
by  practicing  cruelties  of  all  sorts,  the  Indians  put  an  end  to  the 
misery  of  the  prisoners  by  shooting  them  to  death  with  their  arrowis. 

After  this  achievement  de  Lignery  proceeded  up  Fox  river  in 
pursuit  of  the  enemy,  going  in  the  same  leisurely  way  as  before. 
Empty  villages  were  found,  but  no  trace  of  the  Foxes.     Fields  of 


:M 


The  Story  of  the  State.  95 

Indian  corn  were  ruthlessly  ravaged  and  the  torch  was  applied  to  the 
deserted  villages.  Vast  quantities  of  maize,  peas,  beans  and  gourds 
were  thus  destroyed.  The  Winnebago  villages  were  likewise  swept 
with  fire. 

"It  is  certain  that  half  of  these  nations,  who  number  4,000  souls, 
will  die  with  hunger,"  is  the  cheerful  prediction  made  in  the  official 
account  of  the  expedition  that  was  sent  to  the  king. 

In  four  of  the  Fox  villages  two  old  women,  a  girl  and  an  old  man 
were  found.    These  were  roasted  at  a  slow  fire,  and  then  killed. 

The  season  was  now  far  advanced,  the  French  had  to  rely  on 
Indian  corn  for  daily  fare,  and  as  the  safety  of  half  the  army  was 
endangered,  de  Lignery  ordered  a  return  march.  Thus  inglori- 
ously  ended  this  expedition.  The  second  in  command  on  this  occa- 
sion was  the  same  Beaujeu  who  later  led  the  terrific  onslaug'ht  on 
the  army  of  Gen.  Braddock. 

The  Marquis  de  Beauharnois  wrote  in  the  month  of  May,  1730, 
that  he  had  received  "the  favorable  news"  that  while  returning  from 
a  buffalo  hunt  a  party  of  Foxes  had  been  surprised  and  annihilated. 
Eighty  Indians  were  killed  in  ambush  or  sang  the  death  song  at  the 
stake, 

"Our  allies  burned  the  boats,  and  three  hundred  women  and 
children  shared  the  same  fate,"  gleefully  wrote  Beauharnois.  "I  have 
the  honor,  my  lord,  to  communicate  this  news  with  so  much  the 
more  pleasure,  as  there  is  no  doubt  existing  on  the  subject." 

Shortly  after  this,  the  official  letters  sent  to  the  French  minister 
at  Paris  convey  the  interesting  information  that  "two  hundred  of 
their  warriors  have  been  killed  on  the  spot,  or  burned  after  having 
been  taken  as  slaves,  and  six  hundred  women  and  children  were 
absolutely  destroyed."  The  Sieur  de  Villiers  commanded  this  expedi- 
tion. Another  expedition  was  undertaken  by  the  Sieur  de  Buisson. 
With  desperate  bravery,  the  hunted  tribesmen  defended  their  ancient 
hunting  grounds.  Forced  to  fly  from  the  Fox  river  valley  owing  to 
the  unrelenting  onslaughts  of  the  French,  they  pitched  their  tepees 
on  the  Wisconsin.  Here,  too,  they  made  a  gallant  stand,  but  their 
decimated  ranks  could  no  longer  withstand  the  fury  of  the  French 
and  their  Indian  allies.  They  sought  refuge  among  the  lowas.  Their 
descendants,  nearly  a  century  later,  with  the  Sac  Indians,  under  the 
celebrated  chief  Black  Hawk,  carried  terror  to  the  pioneer  American 
settlements  of  Wisconsin. 

The  Sac  Indians  were  closely  allied  with  the  Foxes.  This  friend- 
ship led  to  serious  consequences.  It  was  suspected  by  the  French 
commander  at  Green  Bay  that  the  Sacs  were  harboring  Fox  refugees 
in  their  village  near  the  fort.  Oapt.  de  Villiers  rashly  concluded  to 
go  to  the  village  and  demand  their  surrender.  He  found  the  Indians 
in  council.  Annoyed  at  their  disinclination  to  comply  with  his 
demands,  the  captain  drew  a  pistol  and  shot  one  of  the  chiefs  dead. 


96 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


His  life  seemed  to  hang  by  a  thread,  for  the  young  men  rushed  at 
him  to  avenge  the  chief's  death.  The  old  men  interposed.  Unmind- 
ful of  his  danger,  Capt.  Villiers  again  leveled  his  weapon  and  killed 
a  chief.     A  third  bullet  sped  on  its  way  and  found  a  victim. 

At  this  juncture  a  young  Sac  known  as  Blackbird  seized  a  gun 
and  shot  the  captain  to  the  heart.    This  young  Indian,  who  after- 


"Where   the    Battle   Was   Fought." 

(The  foot  of  Lab©  Winnebago  (where  the  city  of  Neenah  has  been  built)  was 
the  scene  of  one  of  the  fiercest  battles  of  the  war  against  the  Foxes.  During  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century,  the  Winnebago  Indians  were  located  here, 
and  one  of  their  chiefs,  who  was  known  as  Four  Legs,  undertook,  as  had  the 
Foxes  a  century  before,  to  stop  all  comers  and  to  require  the  payment  of 
tribute.  On  one  occasion  Gen.  Leavenworth  came  with  troops  in  batteaux  en 
route  to  the  Mississippi.     Four  Legs  ordered  him  to  stop  and  deliver. 

"The  door  is  locked,"  said  the  old  chief. 

"But  I  have  the  key,"  said  the  General,  as  he  raised  his  rifle  and  aimed  it 
at  the  head  of  the  chief. 

"Then  you  can  pass  through,"  quickly  replied  the  old  Indian,  who  seems  to 
have  had  as  much  prudence  as  valor  in  his  composition.) 


wards  became  a  celebrated  chief  of  his  tribe,  was  then  but  12  years 
of  age. 

The  French  now  rallied  to  avenge  the  death  of  their  commander. 
A  battle  was  fought,  and  the  Sacs  were  totally  routed.  Like  the 
Foxes  they  became  exiles  from  their  fertile  fields  in  the  valley  of 
the  Fox.     They  took  up  their  habitations  along  the  Wisconsin  river. 


CHAPTER  II. 

•    THE  HILL   OF   THE   DEAD. 

Teabition  has  it  that  at  the  Butte  des  Morts  (Hill  of  the  Dead) 
there  were  fought  the  bloodiest  battles  of  the  long  war  of  extermina- 
tion carried  on  by  the  French  in  seeking  the  expulsion  of  the  Fox 
Indians  from  their  fertile  valley.  A  gallant  captain  whose  name  is 
recorded  in  history  as  "the  famous  French  partisan,  Marin,"  was 
chiefly  associated  with  the  expedition  that  led  to  the  sanguinary  title 
given  to  the  two  hills  near  Oshkosh  known  as  the  Great  Butte  des 
Morts  and  Little  Butte, des  Morts.  Capt.  Marin  was  undoubtedly  at 
one  time  in  command  of  the  little  garrison  at  La  Bale  (Green  Bay), 
but  the  dates  of  his  conflicts  with  the  Indians  have  not  been  clearly 
ascertained.  The  tradition  of  the  Hill  of  the  Dead  is  an  interest- 
ing one. 

Like  many  other  traders  who  used  the  Fox-Wisconsin  highway, 
Capt.  Marin  had  suffered  from  the  exactions  of  the  robbers  along  the 
banks  of  the  Fox.  He  determined  to  inflict  a  terrible  lesson,  that  the 
Foxes  would  long  remdmber. 

Before  railway  graders  attacked  the  eminence  with  pick  and 
spade,  the  summit  of  la  Butte  des  Morts  was  an  outlook  whence 
could  be  seen  the  "lake  of  Graise  d'Ours  to  the  east  and  a  long  reach 
of  the  Fox  river  and  many  a  rood  of  fat  prairie  land  to  the  west- 
ward." Situated  in  an  angle  where  the  Fox  and  the  Wolf  rivers 
mingle  their  waters,  it  was  exceptionally  well  located  as  a  vantage 
ground  whence  the  pirates  of  the  prairies  could  discern  the  coming 
of  their  victims.  When  the  boats  of  the  French  grew  few,  the  Foxes 
could  vary  monotony  by  shooting  the  blue-winged  teal  which  fat- 
tened on  the  wild  rice  that  grew  there  so  plentifully.  Myriads  of 
water  fowl  would  rise  on  wing  as  the  voyageurs  worked  their  canoes 
through  the  tangled  growth  that  barred  their  way.  Soon  the  men 
in  the  boats  would  discern  the  flicker  of  the  red  men's  torch  as  a 
signal  to  come  ashore  and  pay  such  tariff  as  the  Indians  chose  to 
levy.  A  Sac  Indian  who  attempted  to  enforce  the  penalty  received 
a  wound  that  felled  him  to  the  ground.  The  young  trader's  life  paid 
the  penalty  of  his  rash  resistance.  His  scalp  was  taken  in  triumph, 
and  his  goods  were  pillaged.  Thus  did  the  haughty  Indians  give 
warning  that  they  would  brook  no  protest  against  their  trade  regu- 
lations. 

The  tradition  current  half  a  century  ago  was  that  the  Hill  of  the 
Dead  was  the  repository  of  the  bones  of  warriors  who  fell  in  the  ter- 
rible battle  with  the  French  at  some  period  not  definitely  known, 
except  that  it  was  during  the  great  thirty  years'  war  carried  on 
against  the  Foxes.     Capt.  Perriere  Marin  was  a  dashing  soldier  who 

97 


98 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


had  taken  part  in  the  bloody  battles  of  Malplaquet  and  Friedlingen 
before  coming  to  America.  He  was  of  too  stern  stuff  to  yield  to  In- 
dian arrogance  without  a  struggle. 

"Give  me  300  regulars,"  quoth  he  to  the  commanding  officer  at 
Quebec,  "and  these  Indians  on  the  Fox  will  repent  their  presumption 
in  barring  the  path  to  a  soldier  of  France." 

His  request  having  been  granted,  he  repaired  to  the  great  ren- 
dezvous at  Michilimackinac  to  make  preparations.  A  dozen  boats  of 
the  usual  pattern — strongly  built,  flat-bottomed,  pointed  at  both  ends 
and  covered  with  sheets  of  painted  canvas — were  constructed.    Into 


Hill   of   the   Dead,    as   It   Appears   To-day. 

(Above  view  represents  the  mound  or  what  remains  of  the  tumulus,  aa  it 
appears  from  the  river.  The  hill  was  not  of  great  altitude  at  any  time,  but  the 
surrounding  country,  being  exceptionally  flat,  gave  the  elevation  an  added 
importance.  The  pick  and  spade  of  civilization  have  in  the  last  half  century 
materially  reduced  its  dimensions.) 


these  he  stowed  a  number  of  kegs  of  French  brandy,  and  proceeded 
to  make  a  tour  of  the  islands  that  are  strung  like  beads  on  a  thread 
along  the  eastern  shore  of  Green  Bay.  Here  he  smoked  the  calumet 
and  unfolded  to  the  Indians  his  purpose  of  meting  out  punishment 
to  the  insolent  Foxes.  The  chiefs  deliberated  and  looked  longingly 
at  the  brandy,  which  Capt.  Marin  temptingly  exposed. 

"What  the  Father  observes  is  good,"  responded  one  of  the  chiefs. 
"He  is  wise.  But  our  understanding  is  weak;  a  little  milk  will 
strengthen  it." 

Capt.  Marin  took  the  hint  and  tapped  a  keg  of  brandy.  For  sev- 
eral days  there  was  revel  in  the  camp  of  the  Indians.    The  chief  took 


The  Story  of  the  State.  99 

advantage  of  the  delay  to  send  the  Foxes  warning  of  the  contem- 
plated attack.  Unfortunately  for  the  latter,  they  failed  to  heed  the 
warning. 

"The  Outagamies  are  not  cowards,"  was  the  lofty  answer  they 
sent  back. 

Finally  Capt.  Marin  had  everything  in  readiness,  and  by  prom- 
ing  his  Indian  allies  the  land  of  the  Foxes,  induced  them  to  join  his 
force.  He  sent  one  of  his  boats  in  advance  to  the  Butte  des  Morts, 
with  instructions  to  permit  the  boat  to  be  plundered  without  offer- 
ing resistance.  In  the  boat  he  had  stowed  some  of  his  brandy  kegs. 
He  had  a  shrewd  design  in  this.  Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  Foxes 
spied  the  boat,  they  went  through  the  usual  tactics,  and  when  they 
discovered  the  nature  of  the  cargo,  increased  the  ordinary  toll  to  100 
per  cent. 

The  confiscation  of  the  brandy  was  what  the  crafty  French  cap- 
tain had  planned.  He  landed  his  force  a  mile  below  the  Hill  of  the 
Dead,  out  of  sight,  and  instructed  them  to  creep  behind  the  Indian 
villages  and  secrete  themselves  until  they  heard  firing  in  front.  Into 
his  boats  he  crowded  his  armed  soldiers  and  covered  them  with  the 
parlas,  as  the  painted  sheetings  were  called,  so  as  to  make  it  appear 
that  he  had  a  cargo  of  freight.  A  few  of  the  soldiers  disguised  as 
boatmen  took  up  the  paddles  and  sang  one  of  the  popular  ditties  of 
the  rivermen,  as  they  made  the  boats  cut  through  the  water. 

The  drunken  Indians  on  the  hill  spied  them  with  great  delight. 
It  seemed  the  richest  spoil  that  had  ever  ventured  within  their 
domain.  As  the  boats  came  along,  bullets  whizzed  athwart  to  signal 
an  immediate  stop.  In  pretended  fright  the  steersmen  cried  to  the 
rowers  to  heed  the  summons.  As  the  keels  grated,  the  Indians  leaped 
into  the  water  in  their  eagerness  to  secure  their  prey.  This  was  the 
opportunity  for  which  Oapt.  Marin  had  maneuvered. 

"Help!  help!  thieves!  thieves!"  he  yelled  in  a  loud  voice. 

In  a  moment  the  boats  were  alive  with  soldiers;  the  canvas  cov- 
erings were  thrown  off  like  magic.  Six  score  Frenchmen  raised  their 
muskets  with  the  precision  of  trained  soldiers,  and  poured  a  deadly 
volley  into  the  thick  crowd  of  Indians  who  were  dragging  at  the 
boats. 

Dazed  by  the  sudden  attack,  seeing  their  men  falling  on  all  sides, 
as  the  bullets  tore  into  their  midst,  the  warriors  fled  to  their  village 
on  the  hill.  Here,  to  their  consternation,  they  faced  an  enemy  as 
remorseless.  Their  wigwams  of  bark  were  in  llames,  and  behind  the 
curtain  of  flames  and  smoke  were  the  men  whom  Capt.  Marin  had 
sent  to  cut  off  their  retreat. 

Surrounded  as  they  were,  the  Foxes  fought  with  the  fury  born 
of  desperation.  Men,  women  and  children  perished  in  the  flames  or 
fell  by  the  bullets  of  the  French  and  the  tomahawks  of  the  French- 
men's allies.  Not  one  asked  or  was  given  quarter.  Their  charred 
bones  gave  to  the  hill  the  name  it  bears  to  this  day. 


100  Leading  Events  of  Wiscoiusin  History. 

Such  is  the  tradition  of  the  Hill  of  the  Dead.  Doubtless  it  is  true 
that  at  one  time  an  engagement  took  place  here,  but  there  are  no 
records  preserved  to  tell  whether  there  was  indeed  such  a  wholesale 
slaughter  as  that  which  is  told  in  the  traditional  narrative. 

It  is  told  of  Oapt.  Marin  that  at  another  time  he  carried  ruin  to 
an  Indian  village  in  the  dead  of  winter.  His  men  made  the  arduous 
and  perilous  journey  on  snowshoes,  caught  the  unsuspecting  Indians 
unawares,  and  by  torch  and  tomahawk  annihilated  the  whole  band. 

It  is  known  that  Capt.  Marin  commanded  at  La  Bale  in  1754, 
but  the  battle  at  the  Hill  must  have  occurred  many  years  before 
this  date. 

Subsequently  Capt.  Marin  took  part  in  the  Indian  war  in  New 
York  and  the  East.  When  Fort  William  Henry  was  captured,  he 
aided  in  the  slaughter  with  a  band  of  Wisconsin  Indians.  The  great 
French  general  Montcalm  wrote  that  in  a  daring  expedition  against 
Fort  Edward  this  adventurous  captain  "exhibited  a  rare  audacity"; 
with  a  small  detachment  "he  carried  off  a  patrol  of  ten  men  and 
swept  away  an  ordinary  guard  of  fifty  like  a  wafer."  When  New 
France  fell,  Capt.  Marin  returned  to  the  Wisconsin  woods.  He  lived 
to  a  ripe  old  age,  and  in  the  soil  of  Wisconsin  his  grave  was  dug. 


CHAPTER  III. 

NAMING   THE   INLAND   WATERS. 

Mississippi  River— Synonyms:  Rio  Grande  del  Espiritu  Santo  (Hernando  De 
Soto);  Great  river  (Friar  Hennepin);  River  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
(Pere  Marquette);  River  Colbert  (Sieur  de  La  Salle);  River  Buade  (Louis 
Joliet);    River    Gastacha    (Iroquois  Indians);  Messipi  (Ottawa  Indians). 

Wisconsin  River— Synonyms:  Moskousing,  Miskonsing,  Onisconsin,  Miscon- 
sin,    Ouisconsing,    Ouisconsin,    V\'isconche. 

Lake  Michigan— Synonyms:  Lake  Illinois,  Illinovik;  Lake  Dauphin;  Lake 
Michigonong,  Michigami,  Mitchigami,  Mitchlganons;  Lake  St.  Joseph;  Magnus 
Lacus  Algonquinorum. 

Lake  Superior— Synonyms:  Lake  Superieur;  Lake  Tracy;  Geetchee-Gumee; 
Kitchi-Gami;   Grand   Lac;   Lac  de  Conde;  Upper  Lake. 

Green  Bay— Synonyms:  Lac  de  Gens  de  Mer;  Enitajghe  (Iroquois);  La 
Grand  Bale;  Bay  des  Puants;  La  Bays  des  Eaux  Puantes;  La  Baye;  La  Bale 
Verte;  Lake  of  the  People  of  the  Sea. 

Lake  Winnebago— Synonyms:  Winnebagog;  Lac  Outouagamis;  Lake  Wyne- 
baygas;   Lac   Ouinnebagon;   Lake   Puan. 

Many  of  the  names  given  by  the  early  explorers  to  the  water- 
ways of  this  region  have  survived  to  this  day,  though  not  all  of  them 
in  their  original  form.  Again  others,  and  among  them  the  great 
lakes  and  the  great  river  Mississippi,  have  gone  through  many  and 
curious  transformations  of  nomenclature  before  they  obtained  the 
names  they  bear  at  this  day. 

The  first  time  the  name  Mississippi  appeared  in  print  was  in  a 
Jesuit  Relation.  Claude  Allouez  had  heard  from  Indians  sojourning 
at  his  Chequamegon  chapel  of  bark  of  a  great  stream  which  they 
termed  Me-sipi.  The  Iroquois  Indians,  whose  habitations  were  in 
what  is  now  New  York,  called  this  river  Gastacha.  In  Friar  Hen- 
nepin's narrative,  the  river  is  called  Mechasipi.  Joliet,  when  his 
canoe  came  from  the  Wisconsin  river  to  the  junction  with  the  great 
river  at  the  place  where  later  rose  the  city  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  chris- 
tened the  stream  Buade  river,  in  honor  of  the  family  name  of  Count 
Frontenac.  His  companion,  Marquette,  less  worldly-minded,  called 
the  river  Conception,  because  it  was  on  the  day  known  by  that 
name  in  the  calendar  of  his  faith  that  he  had  received  permission  to 
accompany  Joliet.  Eleven  years  later  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle  gave  to 
the  noble  river,  which  he  descended  to  its  mouth,  the  name  Colbert, 
In  honor  of  the  great  minister  of  France  whose  friendship  he  en- 
joyed. A  century  and  a  half  before  the  Spaniard  De  Soto  had  given 
to  the  river  the  name  Rio  Grande  del  Espiritu  Santo. 

The  name  the  Spaniard  gave,  the  many  names  given  by  the 
Frenchmen,  are  to  be  found  only  on  maps  yellow  with  age;  on  the 
modem  map  there  survives,  as  is  meet,  the  name  given  by  the  abo- 
rigines. The  orthography  has  been  most  varied,  for  geographers 
who  sought  to  convey  in  modern  spelling  the  pronunciation  of  the 
old  Algonkin  word  rarely  agreed.  Thus  the  old  maps,  and  the  old 
chronicles  of  travelers,  have  included  these  forms  of  the  word  Mis- 


102  Leading  Events  of  Wiscon,sin  History. 

sifssippi:  Mechisipi,  Messasipi,  Micissippi,  Miscissipy,  Misasipi,  Mis- 
chasippj   :\iiss(jsipie,  Mississippy. 

The  definition  usually  given  of  the  word  Mississippi  is  "father 
of  jraters'."  ^This  is  far  from  a  literal  translation  of  the  word  de- 
>"ived'£ronu  the  Algonkin  language,  one  of  the  original  tongues  of  the 
continent.  The  historian,  Shea,  who  made  a  study  of  aboriginal 
philology,  says  that  the  word  Mississippi  is  a  compound  of  the  word 
Missi,  signifying  great,  and  Sepe,  a  river.  The  former  is 
variously  pronounced  Missil,  or  Michil,  as  in  Michilimack- 
inac;  Michi,  as  in  Michigan;  Missu,  as  in  Missouri,  and  Missi, 
as  in  Mississippi.  The  word  Sipi  may  be  considered  as  the 
English  pronunciation  of  Sepe,  derived  through  the  medium  of  the 
French,  and  "affords  an  instance  of  an  Indian  term  of  much  melody 
being  corrupted  by  Europeans  into  one  that  has  a  harsh  and  hissing 
sound." 

An  interesting,  but  apparently  unauthentic  version  of  the  ver- 
sion of  the  meaning  of  the  w^ord  Mississippi  is  given  in  an  old  num- 
ber of  The  Magazine  of  American  History.  The  writer  quotes  a  tradi- 
tion given  in  Heckewelder's  "Indian  Nations,"  according  to  which 
two  large  tribes  emigrated  several  centuries  ago,  from  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  giving  to  that  stream  the  name  of  Nawoesi  Sipu,  or  River 
of  Fish,  whence  the  present  name  is  derived.  These  two  tribes,  the 
Lenni  Lenape  and  the  Mengwe,  uniting  their  forces,  made  war  on 
the  prior  occupants  of  the  country,  the  Allegheny  Indians,  and  drove 
them  southwards  out  of  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
name  Mengwe  seems  in  time  to  have  been  corrupted  into  Mingo  and 
came  into  use  to  designate  the  confederate  tribes  known  as  the  Iro- 
quois, or  Six  Nations. 

Lake  Michigan  was  the  last  of  the  five  great  inland  seas  of 
the  continent  concerning  which  the  early  cartographers  derived 
knowledge.  The  old  maps  call  it  Lake  Illinois  (Illinovik,  Ilinois,  etc.), 
after  the  tribe  of  Indians  that  dwelt  on  its  southern  border;  and 
Lake  Dauphin,  after  the  heir  to  the  throne  of  France.  Lake  Mitchi- 
ganons  is  the  term  used  in  the  old  Jesuit  Relation  (1670-1),  and  a 
Paris  map  of  1688  labels  it  Lake  Michigami.  Most  of  the  early 
French  maps  give  preference  to  the  word  Illinois  in  its  various  ren- 
derings. 

The  Indian  word,  which  has  outlived  the  European  names,  is 
variously  interpreted  to  mean  "fish  weir,"  and  "great  lake."  Some 
authorities  maintain  that  the  word  is  derived  from  Mitchaw,  "great," 
and  Sagiegan,  "lake."  This  seems  to  be  the  most  plausible  explana- 
tion. The  assumption  that  the  meaning  is  weir,  or  fish-trap,  is 
based  on  the  shape  of  the  lake. 

As  with  other  geographical  names  derived  from  Inaian  sources, 
the  real  meaning  of  the  word  Wisconsin  is  so  obscure  as  to  be  in 
dispute.  The  popular  translation  is  "wild,  rushing  channel,"  a  defi- 


TJw  Story  of  the  State.  103 

nition  that  accords  well  with,  the  nature  of  the  stream,  but  which 
nevertheless  is  of  doubtful  authenticity.  Another  rendering,  "the 
gathering  of  the  waters,"  is  pronounced  absurd  by  students  of  the 
Algonkin  tongue. 

It  is  claimed  by  Consul  W.  Butterfield  that  the  name  is  derived 
from  the  physical  features  of  its  lower  course,  where  are  observable 
the  high  lands  or  river  hills.  "Some  of  these  hills  present  high  and 
precipitous  faces  towards  the  water.  Others  terminate  in  knobs.  The 
name  is  supposed  to  have  been  taken  from  this  feature,  the  word 
being  derived  from  Missi,  'great,'  and  Os-sin,  'a  stone,  or  rock.'  " 

The  word  Wisconsin  is  the  result  of  considerable  change  from 
the  first  rendering.  On  Marquette's  map,  where  the  stream  is  indi- 
cated for  the  first  time,  the  word  is  spelled  Meskousing.  Joliet's  map 
gives  it  as  Miskonsing.  Friar  Hennepin  wrote  it  Onisconsin  and 
again  Misconsin,  and  the  French  traveler  Charlevoix,  who  visited 
this  country  early  in  the  last  century,  gave  his  preference  to  this 
form:  Ouisconsing.  It  was  not  long  before  the  final  letter  was 
dropped,  and  this  form  was  retained  until  the  present  English  spell- 
ing superseded  the  French  version,  and  the  harsher  English  pro- 
nunciation the  euphonious  French. 

From  its  source  in  Lake  Vieux  Desert,  on  the  northern  boundary 
line,  the  stream  flows  througn  this  state  for  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles.  Its  descent  from  the  lake  to  where,  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  it 
debouches  into  the  Mississippi,  is  about  a  thousand  feet.  From  the 
famous  portage  that  has  played  such  an  important  part  in  Western 
history,  where  the  Wisconsin  turns  to  the  southwest,  the  current  is 
exceedingly  rapid,  and  the  distance  to  the  mouth  a  hundred  and 
eighteen  miles.  Early  travelers,  as  those  of  to-day,  were  impressed 
with  the  remarkable  picturesque  beauty  of  the  stream. 

The  Indian  name  for  Lake  Superior  was  Kitchi-Gami,  or,  as 
Longfellow  has  rendered  it,  Gitchee-Gumee.  The  name  is  derived 
from  the  Ojibwa  tongue,  its  English  equivalent  being  "big  water." 
Lac  de  Tracy  was  a  French  appellation  given  in  honor  of  Gen.  Tracy, 
but  it  was  not  sufficiently  popular  to  take  firm  root.  On  some  of  the 
old  maps  of  the  seventeenth  century  this  great  fresh-water  sea  is 
given  the  name  of  Grand  Lac  des  Nadouessi.  The  latter  word  was 
the  appellation  by  which  the  French  usually  designated  the  Sioux 
Indians.  It  was  at  the  western  end  of  the  lake  that  the  Sioux  were 
wont  to  come  in  war  parties  for  sudden  raids  on  the  villages  of  their 
old-time  foes,  the  Ojibwas. 

Lake  Superior  is  the  only  one  of  the  five  great  lakes  that  has 
retained  the  name  Frenchmen  gave  it — 'Superieur,  or  Upper  Lake. 
This  is  the  more  remarkable  in  that  legendary  lore  is  associated  with 
every  island  in  this  lake,  and  headland  and  bay  on  its  shores.  The 
Indian  fairies  known  as  pukwudjinees  had  their  fabled  home  along 
the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  their  most  noted  habitations 


104  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

being  the  great  sand  dunes.  This  pigmy  folk  is  happily  described 
in  Longfellow's  "Hiawatha." 

Early  travelers  on  Lake  Superior  ascribe  the  origin  of  the  legend 
of  the  pukwudjinees  to  the  mirage,  a  phenomenon  that  can  be 
observed  frequently  on  this  lake  on  summer  days.  The  German  trav- 
eler. Kohl,  saw  a  tall,  bluish  island,  with  which  the  mirage  played 
in  an  infinity  of  ways.  At  times  it  "rose  in  the  air  to  a  spectral 
height,  then  sank  and  faded  away;  again,  islands  appeared  hovering 
over  one  another  in  the  air;  islands  appeared,  turned  upside  do^oi; 
and  the  white  surf  of  the  beach,  translated  aloft,  seemed  like  the 
smoke  of  artillery  blazing  away  from  a  fort." 

Another  traveler  describes  imagery  so  clearly  defined  as  to  be 
seeming  reality:  "It  occurred  just  as  the  sun  was  setting.  The  sky 
was  overcast  with  such  a  thick  haze  as  precedes  a  storm;  and  the 
inverted  images  of  twelve  vessels — with  the  full  outlines  of  the  rig- 
ging, as  well  as  the  sails  and  other  parts — were  most  distinctly  visi- 
ble on  the  darkened  background."  Again,  "a  blue  coast  stretched 
along  the  horizon  in  front  of  us.  Surprised,  I  referred  to  Bayfield's 
accurate  chart,  and  found,  as  I  expected,  no  land  so  near  in  that 
direction.    The  pilot  told  me  it  was  a  mirage." 

It  seems  singular  that  of  all  the  great  lakes,  the  one  most  closely 
identified  with  Indian  tradition  and  legend  is  the  only  one  that  bears 
a  name  of  European  origin. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOME    ERRORS    OF    GEOGRAPHY. 

Curious  misconceptions  concerning  the  Mississippi  basin  and 
great  lakes  region  appear  on  ttie  old  maps.  English  cartographers 
were  behind  their  French  colleagues  in  tracing  the  meanderings  of 
the  rivers  and  the  lines  of  the  lakes.  Long  after  the  French  map- 
makers  had  begun  to  infuse  accuracy  into  their  delineations  the  car- 
tographers across  the  channel  were  copying  the  old  mistakes.  The 
French  were  in  possession,  and  their  maps  were  the  result  of  actual 
knowledge;  the  English  had  to  rely  on  sources  far  from  reliable  for 
their  map  material.  In  1632  Champlain  drew  a  map  that  gave  some 
form  to  the  great  lakes.  At  that  date  no  white  man  had  seen  the 
broad  expanse  of  either  i^ake  Michigan  or  Lake  Superior,  but 
Indians  had  told  of  their  existence,  and  from  their  descriptions  the 
father  of  New  France  traced  their  forms.  It  was  therefore  excusable 
that  his  map  locates  Green  Bay  north  of  Superior;  possibly  Cham- 
plain  may  have  meant  it  to  represent  Lake  Michigan,  for  both  these 
waters  bore  the  name  of  the  Puans. 

How  the  old  maps  perpetuated  erroneous  ideas  of  topography  is 
shown  by  an  English  atlas  printed  about  1690  by  John  Seller,  "hydro- 
grapher  to  the  king."  This  atlas  minimus,  about  2  inches  by  3% 
in  size,  merges  the  five  great  lakes  in  one  and  makes  them  appear 
as  a  great  arm  of  Hudson's  bay. 

There  were  maps  extant  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  this,  giv- 
ing a  fairly  accurate  conception  of  this  region,  which  the  "hydro- 
grapher  to  the  king"  could  have  copied  with  profit. 

Strange  shapes  were  given  some  of  the  lakes  in  the  old  maps. 
Friar  Hennepin's  map  of  1683  gives  Lake  Erie  the  appearance  of  a 
Scotch  bagpipe,  and  it  is  represented  as  having  a  size  almost  double 
that  of  Lake  Michigan.  This  lake  Hennepin  labels  Lac  Dauphin,  and 
gives  it  a  shape  distorted  beyond  recognition.  On  the  same  map 
Fox  river  runs  across  Wisconsin  due  west  almost  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Wisconsin  river  in  comparison  is  but  a  short  stream.  It  took 
a  long  period  to  efface  the  first  impression  that  the  Wisconsin  did 
not  have  its  source  in  a  large  pond  somewhere  in  the  middle  of  what 
is  now  the  state  that  bears  its  name. 

The  Joutel  map  of  1713  unduly  prolongs  the  Green  Bay  arm  of 
Lake  Michigan;  the  map-maker  makes  it  extend  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  the  Mississippi  river.  Edward  Well's  map  of  1699  follows 
Hennepin's  conception  of  Fox  river,  and  a  body  of  water,  possibly 
meant  for  Lake  Winnebago,  is  located  more  than  half  way  towards 
the  Mississippi  river.  The  famous  Marquette  and  Joliet  maps — ^the 
latter  drawn  from  memory — are  the  earliest  maps  of  the  Mississippi 

105 


106  Leading  Events  of  Wiscon^sin  History. 

river  basin  based  on  actual  knowledge.  Joliet  depicts  Lake  Michi- 
gan (Lac  des  Illinois)  in  form  akin  to  a  banana;  on  Marquette's  map 
the  form  is  not  so  narrow,  nor  so  well  defined. 

In  comparing  the  Joliet  and  Marquette  maps,  the  observations 
of  the  same  trip  being  embodied  in  them,  E.  D.  Neill  notes  these  dif- 
ferences: "Joliet  marks  the  large  island  toward  the  extremity  of 
Lake  Superior,  known  as  Isle  Royale;  but  he  gives  no  name,  and  he 
indicates  four  other  islands  on  the  north  shore.  Marquette  shows 
the  large  island  only,  but  without  a  name.  Joliet  gives  the  name 
Miskonsing  to  the  river,  and  marks  the  portage;  while  Marquette 
gives  no  names.  .  .  Joliet  calls  the  Mississippi,  Riviere  de  Buade, 
and  Marquette  names  it  R.  de  la  Conception." 

Although  his  canoe  had  breasted  its  waves,  and  in  general  he 
was  a  keen  observer.  Baron  La  Hontan  conceived  the  idea  that  Lake 
Michigan  ought  to  be  tilted  on  the  map  so  as  to  point  at  a  sharp 
angle  from  the  southwest  to  the  northeast.  Green  Bay,  or  Baye  des 
Puants,  as  he  calls  it,  shows  a  width  less  than  that  of  Fox  river, 
which  he  terms  Riviere  des  Puants.  This  river  he  causes  to  run 
from  a  northwesterly  direction,  from  a  point  some  distance  west- 
ward, where  it  turns  sharply  from  the  opposite  direction  at  the  con- 
fluence of  two  other  streams.  Lake^  Winnebago  is  not  put  down  on 
the  map,  but  a  large  body  of  water  shaped  like  an  egg  is  given  as 
the  source  of  the  Ovisconslnk,  as  he  spells  the  Wisconsin  river. 

On  the  old  maps  can  be  traced  the  gradual  exploration  of  the 
Western  country.  Inaccurate  as  they  were,  they  located  approxi- 
mately not  only  the  physical  features  of  the  region,  but  designated 
the  habitations  of  the  different  Indian  tribes  and  the  pioneer  set- 
tlements. Taken  collectively,  they  tell  the  story  of  European  migra- 
tion, and  the  crowding  out  of  the  Indian  possessors  of  the  soil.  The 
names  upon  the  maps  give  in  epitome  the  successive  stages  of  coloni- 
zation. 


CHAPTER  V. 

UNDER    THE    FLAG    OF    ENGLAND. 

Ox  THE  plains  of  Abraham,  in  1760,  painted  warriors  from  the 
woods  and  prairies  of  Wisconsin  fought  under  the  fleur-de-lis  of 
France.  New  France  fell,  and  the  savages  accepted  the  change  with 
true  Indian  stoicism.  Their  indifference  may  have  been  partly  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  change  of  flag  did  not  materially  disturb  their 
relations  with  the  French  for  many  years  to  come.  The  red-coats  of 
England  marched  into  the  tumble-down  stockade  at  Green  Bay,  but 
in  the  woods  French  fur-traders  still  roamed  as  before  and  frater- 
nized with  the  Indians.  And,  if  the  English  were  not  inclined  to 
treat  the  Indians  as  brothers,  at  least  they  paid  good  prices  for  pel- 
tries. 

The  British  flag  floated  in  Wisconsin  for  the  first  time  on  the 
12th  day  of  October,  1761.  Detachments  of  the  Royal  American  regi- 
ment, commanded  by  Capt.  Balfour  and  Lieut.  James  Gorrell, 
arrived  at  Green  Bay  on  that  day  to  take  possession.  They  found  the 
post  deserted  and  in  a  dismal  state  of  dilapidation. 

"We  found  the  fort  quite  rotten,  the  stockade  ready  to  fall,  the 
houses  without  cover,  our  fire  wood  far  off,  and  none  to  be  got  when 
the  river  closed,"  Lieut.  James  Gorrell  wrote  in  his  journal. 

The  journal  of  the  English  lieutenant,  which  is  in  the  possession 
of  the  Maryland  Historical  society,  is  the  chief  authority  for  the 
Incidents  connected  with  the  first  BritisQi  occupation  of  Wisconsin. 
It  gives  an  excellent  description  of  life  at  this  then  remote  frontier 
post,  and  the  dangers  that  surrounded  the  English  garrison. 

The  French  had  called  the  stockade  Fort  St.  Francis.  Capt.  Bal- 
four, as  the  union-jack  climbed  to  the  peak  of  the  flagstaff,  gave  it  a 
new  name — Fort  Edward  Augustus.  Two  days  of  the  cheerless  life 
at  the  crumbling  fort  seem  to  have  been  enough  for  the  captain, 
and  he  departed  for  Michilimackinac.  Lieut.  Gorrell,  who  was  left 
in  command,  had  under  him  one  sergeant,  one  corporal  and  fifteen 
privates.  A  French  interpreter  and  two  English  traders  shared  the 
comfortless  barracks  with  the  soldiers. 

Although  the  Englishmen  had  taken  possession  of  the  post  with- 
out firing  a  gun,  they  learned  subsequently  that  it  had  been  planned 
to  massacre  the  garrison  on  their  arrival.  When  the  Frenchmen  at 
the  Bay  learned  that  the  British  were  coming,  they  urged  the  In- 
dians to  ambush  the  detachment.  They  represented  the  weakness 
of  the  soldiers  and  the  ease  with  which  the  party  could  be  cut  off. 
The  young  warriors  readily  assented  to  the  proposition,  but  a  wis© 
old  chief  of  the  Sacs  influenced  them  to  avoid  a  conflict  and  to  go  on 

107 


108 


Leading  Events  of  Wiscomin  History. 


a  great  hunt  instead.    When  the  English  arrived  there  was  but  one 
family  of  Indians  at  the  Bay  village. 

In  the  spring  the  Indians  returned  from  their  great  winter  hunt, 
and  Lieut.  Gorrell  busied  himself  in  winning  their  gcK)d-will.  He 
had  six  belts  made,  one  for  each  nation  that  visited  the  place.  As 
the  French  had  always  liberally  supplied  the  Indians,  Lieut.  Gorrell 
soon  discovered  that  only  the  most  generous  liberality  would 
enable  him  to  counteract  French  intrigues.  He  gave  them  ammuni- 
tion, and  to  some  of  the  old  men  he  sent  flour.     He  then  proceeded  to 


Oldest   Building   in   Wisconsin. 

(Above  is  a  representation  of  the  so  called  Ducharme  house  at  Kaukauna, 
popularly  believed  to  be  the  cabin  constructed  in  the  last  century  by  the  fur- 
traders  Ducharme.  It  is  really  the  old  Grignon  house,  partly  reconstructed, 
and  was  built  in  1813.  The  Ducharme  house  was  erected  about  the  year 
1790.  A  large  Indian  village  was  then  located  at  the  Grand  Kakalin,  and  the 
Ducharmes  put  up  their  log  structure  as  a  trading  post.  Jean  Ducharme,  whose 
son  built  the  house,  was  one  of  the  best  known  fur  traders  connected  with 
the  Bay  settlement.  It  was  he  who,  in  the  spring  of  1780,  led  a  large  Indian 
expedition    against   the    Spanish    settlements   of   the    Upper    Mississippi.) 

hold  councils  with  the  chiefs.  He  managed  his  negotiations  with 
adroitness.  Meeting  the  chiefs  of  the  Folles  Avoines  (Nation  of 
Wild  Oats),  he  presented  strings  of  waupum  and  belts  made  of  the 
same  material,  and  then  addressed  them  in  this  wise: 

"Brothers! — As  you  may  have  lost  some  of  your  brothers  in  the 
war  in  which  you  imprudently  engaged  with  the  French  against  your 
brothers,  the  English,  and  though  by  it  you  ought  to  have  brought 
a  just  indignation  upon  you,  yet  we  will  condescend  so  far  to  forget 
whatever  hath  happened,  that  I  am  glad  to  take  this  opportunity  to 


The  Story  of  the  State.  109 

condole  you  on  the  loss  you  have  met  with.  At  the  same  time,  by 
these  belts  I  wipe  away  all  the  blood  that  was  spilt,  and  bury  all 
your  brothers'  bones  that  remain  unburied  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
that  they  may  grieve  no  more,  as  my  intention  is  henceforward  not 
to  grieve  but  to  rejoice  among  you. 

"Brothers! — I  hope  also  by  these  belts  to  open  a  passage  to  your 
hearts,  so  that  you  may  always  speak  honestly  and  truly,  and  drive 
away  from  your  hearts  all  that  may  be  bad,  that  you  may,  like  your 
brothers,  the  English,  think  of  good  things  only.  I  light  also  a  fire 
of  pure  friendship  and  concord,  which  affords  a  heat  sweet  and 
agreeable  to  those  who  draw  nigh  unto  it;  and  I  light  it  for  all  In- 
dian nations  that  are  willing  to  draw  nigh  unto  it.  I  also  clear  a 
great  road  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  setting  of  the  same,  and 
clear  it  from  all  obstructions,  that  all  nations  may  travel  in  it  freely 
and  safely." 

There  was  much  more  said  by  L/ieut.  Gorrell,  of  the  same  tenor. 
If  his  rhetoric  had  little  effect,  his  gifts  exercised  some  influence. 
The  chiefs  responded  with  expressions  of  good  will,  promised  to 
befriend  the  English  traders,  to  become  true  and  loyal  subjects  of  the 
king  of  England  and  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  blandishments  of  the 
French. 

Under  date  of  August  21,  Lieut.  Gorrell  notes  in  his  journal  that 
"a  party  of  Indians  came  from  Milwacky  and  demanded  credit,  which 
was  refused."  They  also  complained  of  an  English  trader  among 
them  that  had  tried  to  impose  on  them.  This  is  the  first  mention  of 
Milwaukee,  and  proves  that  an  Indian  village  of  sufiicient  importance 
to  attract  an  English  trader  was  located  here  in  1762.  The  name  of 
the  trader,  doubtless  the  first  Englishman  to  abide  at  Milwaukee,  is 
not  given. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1763,  news  of  the  most  alarming  nature 
reached  Lieut.  Gorrell.  Ten  Ottawas  and  a  Frenchman  brought  a 
letter  from  Capt.  Etherington,  commandant  of  Michilimackinac, 
apprising  him  that  that  fort  had  been  taken  by  Indians,  and  entreat- 
ing Gorrell  to  evacuate  Fort  Edward  Augustus  and  come  to  his  relief 
at  L'Arbre  Croche.  Twenty  men  of  the  garrison  had  been  slaugh- 
tered. Etherington  and  eleven  others  had  been  saved  by  friendly 
Ottawas. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  Pontiac  conspiracy.  This  re- 
markable Indian  brought  about  a  confederation  of  many  Western 
tribes  for  a  general  attack  on  the  British.  It  had  been  planned  to 
take  all  the  posts  on  the  same  day.  The  crafty  brain  of  Pontiac  con- 
ceived numerous  strategems  for  gaining  entrance  into  the  forts.  At 
Detroit  the  chiefs  were  to  ask  for  a  council.  They  were  to  hide  their 
rifles  under  their  blankets,  and  at  Pontiac's  signal  were  to  fall  upon 
the  unsuspecting  garrison.  An  Indian  woman  betrayed  the  plot,  and 
it  miscarried.    At  Michilimackinac  the  Indians  gathered  in  front  of 


110  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

the  fort  to  play  their  game  of  baggatiway,  called  by  the  French  le  jeu 
de  la  crosse.  The  garrison  gathered  outside  the  pickets  to  watch 
the  game,  which  soon  became  exciting.  The  ball,  as  if  by  accident, 
flew  over  the  pickets  and  the  Indians  followed  it  pell  mell.  Once 
within,  the  design  of  the  Indians  became  manifest.  Tomahawks 
flashed,  and  the  war  yell  was  heard,  as  the  British  soldiers  fell 
beneath  the  savage  onslaught  of  the  Indians.  Frenchmen  were 
present,  but  none  of  them  were  injured. 

Doubtless  Pontiac's  emissaries  had  also  been  busy  among  the 
Indians  of  Wisconsin.  Those  at  the  Bay  proved  loyal  to  British 
interests.  When  Lieut.  Gorrell  received  Etherington's  urgent  mes- 
sage, he  prepared  to  evacuate.  With  his  usual  shrewd  diplomacy, 
Lieut.  Gorrell  distributed  presents  among  the  Indians,  told  them  that 
he  was  about  to  go  to  the  aid  of  his  fellow  soldiers  across  the  lake, 
and  asked  them  to  take  care  of  the  fort  during  his  absence.  Many  of 
the  Indians  accompanied  him,  and  proved  of  material  service.  Upon 
reaching  Beaver  island,  signal  smokes  were  curling  upwards  in  many 
parts  of  the  island,  and  preparations  were  made  for  battle.  The 
Wild  Oats  Indians  stripped  for  action,  the  English  boat  was  placed  in 
the  center,  and  the  flotilla  moved  forward  in  battle  array.  Instead 
of  being  hostile  the  Indians  on  the  island  proved  to  be  friendly 
Ottawas  bearing  another  message  from  Etherington.  "The  Ohippe- 
was  continue  their  mischief,"  he  wrote.  "They  have  plundered  all 
the  canoes  they  have  met  with  since  I  wrote  to  you  last,  and  are 
now  encamped  on  the  great  island  near  the  fort." 

Lieut.  Gorrell  succeeded  finally  in  joining  the  forces  of  Ethering- 
ton, and  together  they  made  their  way  to  Montreal. 

Thus  abandoned,  Fort  Edward  Augustus  again  fell  into  decay. 
Once  more  the  French  were  left  in  undisturbed  quiet,  and  a  charac- 
teristic community  grew  up  at  the  Bay.  English  traders  came  and 
went,  but  the  English  flag  did  not  again  wave  over  the  stockades  of 
Wisconsin  until  half  a  century  had  elapsed. 


Hawnopawjatin     tP^^^^^K^^    his  mark. 


Otohtongoomlishearw  ^\^\  <\y\_  ^    tis  mark. 

Indian   Signatures    to   Carver's    Deed. 

(The  famous  deed  from  Indians,  on  the  strength  of  which  Carver's  heirs 
claimed  ownership  of  14.(X)0  square  miles  of  land  in  Wisconsin,  it  is  claimed,  was 
stolen.  At  any  rate  it  disappeared  from  the  office  of  Dr.  John  C.  Lettsom,  who 
claimed  to  have  it  in  his  possession  after  Carver's  death.  The  deed  conveyed 
to  Carver  the  whole  of  the  counties  of  Eau  Claire.  Pepin,  St.  Croix,  Dunn, 
Barron,  Pierce,  Washburn,  Chippewa,  Clark,  Taylor,  Price  and  Sawyer,  and 
sections  of  the  counties  of  Ashland,  Polk,  Burnett,  Lincoln,  Marathon,  Wood, 
Jackson,  Tremi>ealeau  and  Buffalo.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FIRST   PERMANENT   SETTLERS    OF    WISCONSIN. 

It  was  shortly  after  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Edward  Augustus 
that  there  came  to  Wisconsin  its  first  permanent  white  settlers. 
Augustin  de  Langlade  and  his  son  Charles  were  destined  to  have 
their  names  inseparably  associated  with  the  history  of  Wisconsin. 
The  elder  Langlade,  who  was  a  fur  trader  at  Michilimackinac  as 
early  as  1727,  married  an  Indian  woman  of  the  Ottawa  tribe  and  a 
sister  of  an  influential  chief.  Charles  Michael  Langlade  was  one  of 
their  sons.  The  priests  of  the  mission  station  interested  themselves 
in  the  young  half-breed,  but  Indian  instinct  for  forest  lore  was 
stronger  than  European  thirst  for  book  knowledge;  he  manifested 
more  pleasure  in  learning  the  use  of  the  scalping  knife  than  in  conn- 
ing the  alphabet.  When  but  a  mere  lad  he  accompanied  his  Indian 
uncle,  whom  the  French  called  La  Fourche  (The  Fork),  on  the  war 
path.  As  he  grew  to  manhood,  young  Langlade  obtained  remarkable 
influence  over  the  Ottawas. 

Years  before  the  Langlades  went  to  Green  Bay  to  make  it  their 
permanent  home — thus  forming  the  nucleus  of  the  first  permanent 
settlement  in  Wisconsin  (about  1764) — they  had  frequently  visited 
that  trading  post.  When  the  French  captain,  deVilliers,  was  shot  to 
the  heart  by  the  Indian  boy  Blackbird,  the  raid  on  the  Sac  village 
that  was  undertaken  to  avenge  the  Frenchman's  death  was  led  by 
Charles  Langlade.  Engaged  as  they  were  in  the  Indian  trade,  the 
father  and  son  made  frequent  journeys  between  the  Bay  post  and  the 
Great  Turtle,  but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  shared  in  the  plunder 
that  fell  into  the  coffers  of  the  officials  at  Quebec  and  Montreal.  It 
was  a  period  of  bold  official  corruption.  Supplies  sent  by  the  French 
government  for  the  Indian  trade,  such  as  knives,  hatchets  and 
trinkets,  were  diverted  so  as  to  put  the  proceeds  into  the  pockets  of 
the  dishonest  government  representatives.  The  governor's  brother 
and  the  commandant  at  Green  Bay  are  said  to  have  pocketed  within 
a  brief  period  the  enormous  sum  of  312,000  francs.  The  Indian  trade 
had  grown  to  large  proportions;  it  is  recorded  that  annually  there 
were  needed  at  Green  Bay  post  for  this  barter  $18,000  worth  of 
trinkets.  In  the  midst  of  this  corruption  the  Langlades  seem  to 
have  dealt  honestly. 

When  the  French  sent  an  expedition  into  the  Ohio  country  to 
frustrate  English  attempts  at  colonization,  in  1749,  the  younger 
Langlade  commanded  the  Indian  contingent — a  greased  and  painted 
rabble  Parkman  calls  them.  They  attacked  the  post  of  Pickawillany 
and  plundered  it  completely.     An  Indian   chief  of  the  Miamis  and 

111 


112 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


eleven  of  his  warriors  were  killed,  and  Langlade's  Ottawa  cannibals 
put  the  chief  into  the  kettle  and  ate  him. 

Having  proven  his  prowess  in  war,  Langlade  determined  to 
marry  and  settle  down  to  peaceful  pursuits.  A  young  Frenchwoman 
named  Charlotte  Ambroisine  Bourassa  became  his  bride,  August  12, 
1754.    Their  descendants  live  in  Wisconsin  to-day.    Madame  Lang- 


Pauquette  Making  a  Portage. 


lade  was  fairly  well  educated,  and  was  described  as  "remarkably 
beautiful,  having  a  slender  "figure,  regular  features  and  very  dark 
eyes.  These  physical  gifts  were  allied  to  rare  moral  qualities,  which 
secured  her  a  general  respect  at  Michilimackinac,  and  afterwards  at 
Green  Bay."  According  to  accounts  of  the  period,  she  feared  the 
Indians  greatly  and  her  experiences  at  Green  Bay  caused  her  to  suf- 
fer keenly.    The  sight  of  Indians  invariably  gave  her  a  strong  nerv- 


The  Story  of  the  State.  113 

ous  shock.  At  one  time  it  was  reported  that  hostile  Indians  were 
about  to  attack  Green  Bay.  In  mortal  fear  she  hid  under  a  pile  of 
boards;  when  found,  she  seemed  almost  paralyzed  with  fear.  On 
another  occasion  she  locked  herself  into  her  room  to  escape  from  a 
party  of  Indians  who  entered  her  house  on  a  visit.  The  Indians 
seated  themselves  around  the  room,  except  one.  Madame  Langlade, 
to  observe  their  movements,  slightly  opened  the  door  behind  which 
she  sought  safety,  and  seeing  this  Indian  standing  in  the  middle  of 
the  room,  imagined  he  was  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  kill  her.  In 
a  frenzy  of  fear,  she  seized  a  long  knife,  rushed  into  the  room  and 
desperately  attempted  to  stab  him. 

"You  rogue,  you  are  a  dead  man,"  she  screamed,  as  she  made  a 
lunge  at  him.  The  Indians  saw  that  she  was  beside  herself  with 
terror,  and  laughed  good-naturedly  at  her  futile  attempt  to  stab  their 
companion.  They  easily  disarmed  her,  but  it  was  only  when  her 
husband  quietly  spoke  to  her  that  her  terror  was  allayed. 

From  the  Langlade  cabin  door  a  view  of  the  river  stretch  could 
be  had.  Often  when  she  saw  a  canoe  with  Indians  approaching,  ter- 
ror would  almost  overcome  the  sensitive  young  Frenchwoman.  "They 
are  coming,  they  are  coming,"  she  would  say  in  despair.  "We  shall 
all  be  massacred." 

The  honeymoon  of  the  Langlades  was  hardly  at  an  end  when  the 
young  man  was  summoned  to  go  on  the  warpath  against  the  British. 
This  was  While  the  Langlades  still  made  Michilimackinac  their  home. 
It  was  the  year  1755  that  Gen.  Braddock's  army  of  English  red-coats, 
with  the  confidence  born  of  victory  on  European  battlefields,  marched 
against  Fort  Duquesne.  George  Washington  and  his  provincials 
marched  with  them.  It  was  for  the  defense  of  the  French  fort  and 
against  the  regulars  of  England  and  the  provincials  of  Virginia  that 
Langlade  raised  a  band  of  800  paint-bedaubed  warriors.  Joining  a 
French  and  Canadian  command  under  Beaujeu,  Langlade  and  his 
Indians  marched  to  ambush  the  enemy. 

A  grandson  of  Langlade's,  Augustin  Grignon,  has  left  an  account 
of  the  massacre  as  he  heard  it  from  the  lips  of  his  grandfather: 
"Spies  were  sent  out  to  discover  the  enemy's  approach,  and  they 
soon  returned,  reporting  that  Braddock's  army  was  within  a  half  a 
day's  march  of  the  Monongahela,  cutting  a  road  as  they  advanced. 
It  was  determined  that  M.  Beaujeu,  with  what  French  could  be 
spared,  and  the  Indian  force  under  de  Langlade,  should  go  out  and 
meet  the  enemy  at  the  Monongahela  and  attack  them  while  crossing 
that  stream.  The  English  got  to  the  south  bank  of  the  Monongahela 
about  noon,  halted  and  prepared  for  dinner;  while  the  French  and 
Indians  were  secreted  on  the  other  shore." 

The  account  goes  on  to  tell  that  Beaujeu  at  first  refused  to  con- 
sent to  Langlade's  plan  for  an  attack  while  the  English  were 
eating.     At  last  Langlade's  stinging  remark  that  if  Beaujeu  didn't 


114  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

intend  to  do  any  fig-hting  his  conduct  could  be  explained,  spurred  the 
French  commander  to  action.  He  gave  the  word  and  a  deadly  fire 
was  poured  into  the  ranks  of  the  surprised  Englishmen. 

"The  English  officers,"  Grignon's  account  continues,  "who  had 
their  little  towels  pinned  over  their  breasts,  seized  their  arms  and 
took  part  in  the  conflict;  and  a  good  many  of  them  were  killed  with 
these  napkins  still  pinned  on  their  coats — showing  how  suddenly 
they  rushed  into  the  battle.  The  English,  occupying  the  lowest 
ground,  almost  invariably  overshot  the  French,  and  their  cannon 
balls  would  strike  the  trees  half  way  up  among  the  branches.  In  the 
battle  Beaujeu  was  killed,  but  the  French  and  Indian  loss  was  very 
small;  and  the  most  who  were  killed  and  injured  were  not  killed  by 
the  bullets  of  the  enemy;  but  by  the  falling  limbs  cut  from  the  trees 
by  the  overshooting  of  the  English  cannon." 

The  slaughter  of  the  English  was  frightful.  Braddock  was  mor- 
tally wounded,  and  but  for  the  presence  of  mind  of  George  Wash- 
ington and  his  provincials,  who  were  accustomed  to  Indian  warfare, 
and  whose  advice  the  arrogant  English  genei'al  had  loftily  ignored, 
few  of  the  soldiers  would  have  escaped  the  tomahawk  and  scalping 
knife.  Of  the  eighty-six  British  officers,  sixty-three  were  killed; 
they  had  worn  splendid  uniforms,  this  being  their  initial  campaign 
since  their  arrival  from  Great  Britain,  and  Langlade's  braves 
stripped  the  fallen  men  and  bedecked  themselves  with  the  raiment  of 
their  foes.  Many  of  them  brought  these  trophies  to  their  lodges  In 
Wisconsin,  to  strut  in  captured  finery  before  the  admiring  and  en- 
vious Indians  who  had  not  joined  the  expedition.  And  with  them 
they  brought  as  evidence  of  their  prowess  the  scalp  locks  of  Brad- 
dock's  men  to  hang  on  their  lodgepoles.  More  than  half  a  thousand 
Englishmen  had  lost  their  lives  as  the  result  of  their  commander's 
obstinacy. 

In  the  bloody  massacre  at  Fort  William  Henry,  the  braves  of 
Langlade  were  at  the  front.  Langlade's  services  were  rewarded 
by  the  French  governor,  who  conferred  upon  him  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant, placed  him  second  in  command  at  Michilimackinac  and 
allowed  him  a  salary  of  1,000  francs  per  annum.  Two  years  later  he 
again  gathered  his  Indians,  to  the  number  of  200,  and  his  flotilla  of 
canoes  made  the  journey  to  Quebec  to  join  the  standard  of  the  gal- 
lant Montcalm.  Menomonees,  Sacs,  Foxes  and  Ohippewas  from  Wis- 
consin mingled  with  his  Ottawa  kinsmen  on  this  expedition.  It  was 
here  that  Langlade  performed  a  service  to  the  French  cause,  which, 
but  for  the  stupidity  or  delay  of  others,  would  have  prevented  the 
capture  of  the  great  French  stronghold  and  changed  the  history  of 
North  America.  With  400  Indian  warriors,  Langlade  was  fording  tht 
Montmorenci  river  when  they  discovered  British  troops  executing 
the  movement  planned  by  Gen.  Wolfe,  of  landing  below  the  cataract 
and  climbing  the  heights.    With  keen  discernment  of  the  strategic 


The  Story  of  the  State.  115 


possibilities  involved,  the  French,  partisan  sent  word  to  the  French 
officer  Levis  that  an  immediate  attack  would  result  in  the  annihi- 
lation of  the  maneuvering  force,  comprising  a  third  of  the  British 
army.  Hours  elapsed  whilfe  the  French  officers  leisurely  debated 
what  to  do,  and  the  opportunity  was  lost.  After  having  lain  flat  on 
the  ground  for  five  hours,  waiting  for  the  French  to  appear,  Lan- 
glade's braves  impetuously  assaulted  the  English. 

In  the  war  archives  at  Paris  there  is  preserved  this  notice  of 
their  valiant  attack:  "They  were  so  impetuous,  as  we  were  sub- 
sequently told  by  a  sergeant  who  had  deserted  to  the  enemy,  and 
two  Canadians,  their  prisoners,  that  the  English  were  obliged  to 
fight,  retreating  more  than  200  paces  from  the  place  of  combat  be- 


MJlRQVE  J>E  WiSISIPIKiE. 
DB  L'ATTRIBUT  DE  J  J  i,»AIGL32. 


MARQUE  DU  TABAC  NOIR. 


Signatures  to  the  Kaukauna  Deed,  1793. 

(The  entire  site  whereon  Kaukauna  has  been  built  was  deeded  in  1793  to 
Dominick  Duchrame  for  two  barrels  of  rum,  well  mixed.  The  curious  deed, 
written  in  French,  is  on  file  in  the  records  of  Brown  County.  This  is  an  extract 
from  the  document:  "The  said  vendors  are  contented  and  satisfied  for  two  bar- 
rels of  rum.  In  faith  of  which  they  have  made  their  marks,  the  old  Wabisipine 
being  blind,  the  witnesses  have  made  his  mark  for  him."  The  sons  of  the  blind 
Wabisipine  (Eagle)  later  claimed  the  land,  but  were  "contented  and  satisfied"  to 
quitclaim  their  ownership  for  sundrj-  barrels  of  rum,  mixed  "a  mes  sines." 
Their  signatures  are  appended  to  the  deed  as  follows:  The  Eagle,  Black  Tobacco, 
The  Drinker,  The  Beaver,   etc.) 

fore  they  could  rally.  The  alarm  was  communicated  even  to  the 
main  camp,  to  which  Gen.  Wolfe  had  returned.  The  savages,  see- 
ing themselves  almost  entirely  surrounded,  effected  a  ratreat  after 
having  killed  or  wounded  more  than  150  men,  losing  only  two  or 
three  of  their  own  number.  They  met  at  the  ford  of  the  river  Mont- 
morenci,  the  detachment  coming  to  their  support,  which  M.  de  Levis 
had  been  unwilling  to  take  the  responsibility  of  sending  until  he 
had  received  an  order  of  M.  de  Vaudreuil." 

On  the  plains  of  Abraham,  on  the  fatal  day  when  Wolfe  died  In 
the  flush  of  victory  and  Montcalm  in  the  shadow  of  defeat,  Lang- 
lade fought  fiercely  for  the  French  cause.  His  two  brothers  fell 
by  his  side.    It  is  related  of  Langlade  that  "he  seemed  to  delight  to 


116  Leading  Events  of  VTisconsin  History. 

be  in  the  midst  of  the  din  of  arms  and  the  j^ells  of  the  combatants. 
A  succession  of  rapid  discharges  having  heated  his  gun  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  he  could  not  use  it  again  for  a  few  minutes,  he  drew  his 
pipe  from  his  pocket,  filled  it  with  tobacco,  struck  fire  with  the  aid 
of  his  tinder  box,  then  lighted  it,  appearing  so  calm  amidst  the  can- 
nonade and  the  whistling  of  bullets  as  if  he  had  been  tranquilly- 
seated  by  the  fire  in  bivouac." 

When  Quebec  surrendered,  Langlade  returned  to  his  home  at 
the  outlet  of  Lake  Michigan.  Some  time  after  British  garrison? 
marched  to  the  outposts  of  France  and  occupied  them.  French  rule 
was  at  an  end,  and  the  Langlades  entered  the  employ  of  the  new 
rulers.  When  Pontiac  was  spreading  sedition  among  the  Western 
Indians,  Langlade  endeavored  to  warn  Capt.  Etherington  of  the 
threatened  massacre,  but  the  Englishman  paid  no  attention  to  the 
warning.  It  has  been  charged  that  when  the  massacre  occurred, 
Langlade  made 'no  attempt  to  protect  the  unfortunate  Englishmen; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  claim  is  made  that  but  for  his  interposition, 
Etherington  and  the  few  soldiers  who  escaped  the  tomahawk,  would 
also  have  lost  their  lives.  Probably,  the  Langlades  acted  as 
humanely  as  the  circumstances  permitted.  After  the  war,  Langlade 
was  stationed  at  the  head  of  the  Indian  department  of  Green  Bay. 
He  seems  to  have  managed  affairs  with  prudence  and  ability,  and  to 
have  won  the  confidence  of  the  British.  A  letter  has  been  preserved 
written  him  by  Capt.  Arent  S.  de  Peyster,  commandant  at  Michlli- 
mackinac,  that  shows  that  the  English  wanted  to  retain  his 
good    will. 

"I  send  you  eighty  pounds  of  tobacco,"  Capt.  de  Peyster  wrote 
April  18,  1777,  "a  sack  of  corn — ground,  in  order  that  the  gentlemen 
may  not  compel  their  wives  to  grind  it — two  barrels  of  sco-ta-wa-bo 
(whisky)  that  they  may  not  drive  you  wild.  Besides,  I  send  my 
best  respects  to  Madame  Langlade,  and  beg  her  to  accept  two  kegg 
of  brandy,  one  barrel  of  salt,  a  small  barrel  of  rice,  and  twenty 
pounds  of  tobacco,  if  necessary.  I  also  send  for  madame  a  sack  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three  pounds  of  flour,  as  a  present.  These, 
Monsieur,  are  all  the  gifts  I  am  able  to  send  you  at  present." 

Ever  loyal  to  his  employers,  Langlade  sided  with  the  British 
during  the  revolutionary  war.  He  raised  a  large  force  of  Wiscon- 
sin Indians  to  march  against  George  Rogers  Clark  in  the  Illinois 
country,  but  the  surrender  of  the  British  general,  Hamilton,  occurred 
before  he  could  go  to  his  relief.  Previous  to  this  time,  he  had 
gone  to  Montreal  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  Indians,  and  joined  the 
invading  army  of  Burgoyne.  His  fierce  warriors  became  disgruntled 
in  consequence  of  the  restraints  imposed  by  that  humane  general, 
and  left  for  home  in  disgust.  In  1780  Langlade  headed  an  expedi- 
tion to  Prairie  du  Chien  to  take  charge  of  a  large  quantity  of  furs 
stored  there,  which  it  was  feared  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


117 


Americans    under    George    Rogers    Clark.     He    successfully    accom- 
plished his  mission. 

Langlade's  old  age  was  spent  in  serenity  at  Green  Bay.  He  had 
received  valuable  grants  of  land,  and  he  obtained  an  annuity  of  $800 
from  the  British  government  for  his  past  services.  He  lived  in  com- 
fort till  his  death  occurred,  in  1800,  eighteen  years  before  that  of 
his  wife.  Gathering  his  grandchildren  about  him,  he  was  wont  to 
tell  them  the  story  of  his  eventful  life,  and  of  the  ninety-nine  bat- 
tles and  skirmishes  wherein  he  had  taken  part.  Following  a  Can- 
adian custom,  the  people  of  Green  Bay  on  each  recurring  first  of 
May  raised  a  flag  pole  in  his  honor,  and  emphasized  the  ceremony 
by  cheers  and  volleys  of  musketry.  It  was  a  token  of  the  affection- 
ate reverence  that  the  simple-hearted  people  of  the  settlement  enter- 
tained for  their  militia  commandant. 

The   name    the    Indians    gave    Langlade    was   A-ke-wau-ge-ke- 
tan-so,  meaning  He-who-is-fierce-for-the-land,  their  way  of  express 
ing  a  military  conqueror. 


.OB^  I  ^ — ^^^  POi/r  UNE  Puf/^rc. ■]  •  (f) 

""a  —^           T-v     .                                   Mircb.  1814. 

"^  Une  Dollar,  redeemable  at  this  Office, 

;°f  by  Government  jBlIIS  Of  gXfbaDflf  on  London! 

^  »t  Thirty  Days  Sight.                                           ' 

ejt  Ordir  ,/  //,  C„mcndtr  ,/ m.  Form, 


Ejil«red, 


nog 
uog- 
nog 
log 
uog 

"°3  Urn,  tt  Pia/lr,. 

Fivt  Shillings.    (()     G.  A' 


(Facsimile  of  money  received  by 
Green  Bay  volunteers  in  the  British 
service  during  the  war  of  1812.  It  is 
surmised  that  although  the  word  bon 
(good)  is  repeated  seventeen  times 
on  the  bill,  the  money  was  at  such 
discount  that  it  was  not  worth  while 
trying  to  redeem  it.) 


A'o    [i<f]  MuhiJimackiniu,[ist May'^  iS/[j,'\ 

Good  for  FOUR  DOLLARS,  payable  by  Drafts 
on  Quebec,  or  Montreal. 


FOUR   DOLLARS. 


[G.,  H.  MONK! 


Dtputy  Assistant  Commissary  Genoa!. 


(Probably  the  earliest  forms  of 
paper  currency  in  actual  circulation 
in  Wisconsin  was  that  paid  to  the 
creditors  of  the  British  government 
in  the  Northwest  during  the  war  of 
1812.  Accompanying  is  a  facsimile 
of  the  form  issued  by  the  commis- 
sary at  Michilimackinac.  The  brack- 
eted portion  was  written  in  with  a 
pen. 


FIRST    PAPER    MONEY    CIRCULATED    IN    -^aSCGNSIN. 
DURING    THE    WAR   OF    1812. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ALEXANDER  HENRY,  THE  FUR  TRADER. 

In  the  train  of  the  English  soldiers  who  marched  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  Western  forts,  after  the  fall  of  New  France,  came 
adventurous  fur  traders.  Under  French  dominion,  Englishmen  who 
had  attempted  to  penetrate  to  the  beaver  country  for  barter  had 
found  the  way  barred  by  French  hostility  and  the  Indian's  prefer- 
ence for  Frenchmen.  As  early  as  1762  an  Englishman  was  at  the  site 
of  Milwaukee;  evidently  he  sought  to  drive  shrewd  bargains — judging 
from  the  complaint  made  by  the  Indians  to  the  commandant  at  Fort 
Edward  Augustus  (Green  Bay).  Two  years  after  the  evacuation  of 
that  post,  the  exclusive  trade  of  the  Lake  Superior  region  was  pro- 
cured by  a  young  fur  trader  named  Alexander  Henry,  a  native  of 
New  Jersey.  This  young  man  had  been  at  Michilimackinac  when 
its  garrison  was  massacred  by  Indians,  and  was  saved  from  the 
tomahawk  by  a  Pawnee  girl  who  was  a  slave  in  the  household  of 
Charles  Langlade.  She  hid  him  in  the  garret  of  the  Langlade  house. 
In  the  journal  of  Alexander  Henry,  a  graphic  picture  is  given  of  the 
slaughter  of  his  countrymen,  and  the  Langlades  are  represented  as 
having  shown  great  unconcern  regarding  the  fate  of  the  English. 
In  the  garret  of  their  cabin  Henry  found  refuge,  until  Langlade 
turned  him  over  to  the  Indians — doubtless  fearing  for  the  safety  of 
his  own  household  should  the  Englishman  be  found  beneath  his 
roof  by  the  savages.  Henry  took  a  different  view,  and  in  his  journal 
bitterly  denounces  the  act. 

The  travels  and  adventures  of  Alexander  Henry  are  minutely 
described  by  him  in  his  journal,  which  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing narratives  of  individual  experiences  descriptive  of  that  stormy 
period.  Henry  was  a  keen  observer,  and  his  accounts  of  hunts  and 
Indian  customs  are  not  only  entertainingly  told,  but  contain  a  vast 
amount  of  information. 

Like  all  the  traders  of  this  period  Henry  made  Michilimackinac 
the  base  of  his  operations.  Here  he  bought  enough  goods  on  a  year's 
credit  to  equip  four  canoes,  and  hired  twelve  men  to  convey  them  to 
his  wintering  ground  at  Chequamegon.  Until  long  after  this  period 
(1765)  there  was  no  coin  of  the  realm  in  circulation  at  this  outpost, 
and  peltries  were  the  medium  of  exchange.  Beaver  was  the  stand- 
ard, and  all  accounts  were  kept  in  beaver.  If  beaver  furs  were  not 
available,  otter  and  marten  were  accepted,  on  the  basis  of  their  pro- 
portionate value  converted  into  beaver.  The  ruling  Michilimackinac 
value  of  beaver  was  2  shilling  6  pence  per  pound;  otter  skins,  6 
shillings  each;  marten,  1  shilling  6  pence. 

This  was  the  sort  of  currency  that  Henry  agreed  to  pay  in  ex- 
change for  his  outfit,  the  amount  being  ten  thousand  pounds  of  good 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


119 


and  merchantable  beaver.  The  wages  of  his  men  were  payable  in 
the  same  kind  of  currency,  being  reckoned  at  a  hundred  pounds 
weight  of  beaver  each.  Indeed,  specie  was  so  scarce  that  when  the 
frontiersmen  went  to  a  cantine  to  procure  that  which  inebriates  if 
too  liberally  partaken  of,  they  carried  with  them  a  marten's  skin 
to  pay  the  reckoning. 

In  purchasing  provisions  Henry  laid  in  a  liberal  supply  of  In- 
dian corn  and  bear's  fat,  for  it  was  on  this  frugal  fare  that  the  boat- 
men of  that  day  subsisted.  Each  man  was  allowed  a  bushel  of  corn 
and  two  pounds  of  fat  for  a  month's  subsistence.  Such  a  luxury  as 
a  pinch  of  salt  was  not  expected,  and  certainly  not  supplied.    Henry 


Ramsay   Crooks. 

Prom  an  Oil   Painting  in  the  Possession  of  the  State  Historical    Society. 

(One  of  the  leading  fur-traders  in  the  Wisconsin  region  when  the  American 
Pur  Company  monopolized  the  trade,  was  Ramsay  Crooks.  He  was  a  Scot,  but 
came  to  America  when  but  16  years  of  age.  He  first  visited  Wisconsin  in  1806. 
Irving,  in  his  "Astoria,"  has  graphically  told  the  story  of  the  great  expedition 
with  which   Crooks  was   associated.) 


bought  fifty  bushels  of  maize  at  ten  pounds  of  beaver  per  bushel. 
He  paid  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  per  pound  for  the  tallow  or  fat  to 
mix  with  the  corn. 

Upon  reaching  Chequamegon  Henry  found  the  Indians,  who 
occupied  fifty  lodges  there,  in  a  state  of  distress.  The  troubles 
between  the  English  and  the  French  had  so  interrupted  their  trade 
as  to  leave  them  in  a  state  of  destitution.  They  were  naked  and 
almost  starving,  and  Henry  distributed  among  them  goods  amount- 
ing in  value  to  three  thousand  beaver  skins.  To  repay  him,  the 
Indians  went  on  a  great  hunt,  covering  a  stretch  of  a  hundred 
leagues  in  their  pursuit  of  fur-bearing  animals. 


120  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

For  two  hundred  years  the  curious  amphibious  animal  which 
the  French  called  the  castor  and  the  English  the  beaver,  was  "Wis- 
consin's chief  source  of  wealth.  Alexander  Henry's  journal  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  the  method  pursued  in  hunting  this  game  in 
their  houses  under  the  water. 

"The  common  way  of  taking  the  beaver,"  he  wrote,  "is  that  of 
breaking  up  its  house,  which  is  done  with  trenching  tools  during  the 
winter,  when  the  ice  is  strong  enough  to  allow  of  approaching  them; 
and  when,  also,  the  fur  is  in  its  most  valuable  state.  Breaking  up 
the  house,  however,  is  only  a  preparatory  step.  During  this  opera- 
tion the  family  make  their  escape  to  one  or  more  of  their  washes 
(holes  dug  under  the  banks  as  retreats  in  case  of  danger).  These 
are  to  be  discovered  by  striking  the  ice  along  the  bank,  and  where 
the  holes  are  a  hollow  sound  is  returned.  After  discovering  ana 
searching  many  of  these  in  vain,  we  often  found  the  whole  family 
together  in  the  same  wash.  I  was  taught  occasionally  to  distinguish 
a  full  wash  from  an  empty  one  by  the  breathing  of  the  animals  con- 
cealed in  it.  From  the  washes  they  must  be  taken  out  with  the 
hands;  and  in  doing  this  the  hunter  sometimes  receives  severs 
wounds  from  their  teeth.  While  a  hunter,  I  thought  with  the  Indians 
that  the  beaver  flesh  was  very  good;  but  after  that  of  the  ox 
was  within  my  reach,  I  could  not  relish  it.  The  tail  is  accounted  a 
luxurious  morsel." 

It  was  a  favorite  pastime  of  Henry's  to  chase  the  raccoon.  This 
is  his  description  of  the  animal  and  its  peculiarities:  "It  was  my 
practice  to  go  out  in  the  evening  with  dogs  to  hunt  this  animal. 
The  raccoon  never  leaves  its  hiding  place  till  after  sunset.  As  soon 
as  a  dog  falls  on  a  fresh  track  of  the  raccoon,  he  gives  notice  by  a 
cry,  and  immediately  pursues.  This  barking  enables  the  hunter  to 
follow.  The  raccoon,  which  travels  slowly  and  is  soon  overtaken, 
makes  for  a  tree,  on  which  he  remains  till  shot.  After  the  falling 
of  the  snow,  nothing  more  is  necessary  for  taking  the  raccoon'  than 
to  follow  the  track  of  his  feet.  In  this  season  he  seldom  leaves  his 
habitation;  and  he  never  lays  up  any  food.  I  have  found  six  at  a 
time  in  the  hollow  of  one  tree,  lying  upon  each  other  and  nearly  in 
a  torpid  state.  In  more  than  one  instance  I  have  ascertained  that 
they  have  lived  six  weeks  without  food.  The  mouse  is  their  princi- 
pal prey.  Raccoon  hunting  was  my  more  particular  and  daily  em- 
ploy. I  usually  went  out  at  the  first  dawn  of  day  and  seldom 
returned  till  sunset,  or  till  I  had  laden  myself  with  as  many  animals 
as  I  could  carry.  By  degrees  I  became  familiarized  with  this  kind 
of  life;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  idea  of  which  I  could  not  divest 
my  mind,  that  I  was  living  among  savages,  and  for  the  whispers  of 
a  lingering  hope  that  I  should  one  day  be  released  from  it — or  if  I 
could  have  forgotten  that  I  had  ever  been  otherwise  than  I  then 
was — I  could  have  enjoyed  as  much  happiness  in  this,  as  in  any 
other  situation." 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


121 


\ 


When  the  Indians  returned  from  their  hunt,  they  brought  him 
quantities  of  furs,  but  demanded  rum.  Henry  refused  to  give  them 
any,  whereupon  they  threatened  to  pillage  his  cabin.  Henry's  men 
fled,  but  he  seized  a  gun  and  declared  he  would  shoot  the  first  In- 
dian who  made  a  hostile  move  or  seized  anything  in  the  hut.  After 
a  while  the  tumult  subsided,  the  Indians  left  and  Henry's  cowardly 
retainers  came  back  shame-facedly.  Henry  decided  to  take  no  more 
chances,  and  buried  all  the  rum  he  possessed.  After  that  the  In- 
dians made  no  more  trouble,  but  brought  Henry  their  peltries  and 
paid  their  debts.  He  joined  them  in  their  making  of  maple  sugar 
in  March,  participated  in  their  bear  hunts  and  witnessed  their 
strange  ceremonials.  When  they  went  on  the  warpath  against  their 
Sioux  enemies,  Henry  concluded  to  leave.  He  had  accumulated  150 
packs  of  beaver,  weighing  15,000  pounds,  and  twenty-five  packs  of 
otter  and  marten  skins.  Fifty  canoes  of  Indians,  carrying  a  hun- 
dred packs  of  beaver  that  Henry  was  unable  to  purchase,  accom- 
panied him  when  he  embarked  for  Michilimackinac. 

This  was  the  last  time  that  Alexander  Henry  made  Wisconsin 
his  headquarters,  altnough  he  continued  in  the  fur  trade  for  many 
years.    He  died  at  Montreal  in  1824,  aged  84  years. 

One  of  the  most  readable  stories  of  the  Northwest  is  Mrs.  Mary 
Hartwell  Catherwood's  "White  Islander."  Alexander  Henry  is  the 
hero  of  this  tale,  his  adventures  at  Michilimackinac  being  the  thread 
on  which  the  incidents  of  the  story  are  strung.  The  novelist  pic- 
tures with  graphic  fidelity  the  stirring  life  in  the  woods  and  on  the 
waters  in  this  region  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago. 


Prairie  du  Chien— 1S35— The  Rolette  Home  on  River  Shore. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CAPTAIN  JONATHAN  CARVER,  THE  TRAVELER. 

OxE  of  the  first  English  travelers  to  explore  the  Wisconsin 
region — and  probably  the  most  famous — was  Jonathan  Carver.  Some 
of  his  descendants  live  in  Wisconsin  to-day.  Carver  never  made 
Wisconsin  his  home,  but  by  virtue  of  a  gift  from  Indians  he  claimed 
ownership  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  western  part  of  the  state 
and  on  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi  river.  He  spent  three  year^j 
in  traveling  about  this  region  and  wrote  a  book  that  had  a  phe- 
nomenal sale  in  the  old  country.  How  eager  people  were  to  learn 
something  about  this  then  unknown  country  may  be  gathered  from 
the  fact  that  twenty-three  editions  of  the  book  came  from  the  press 
in  rapid  succession,  and  translations  appeared  in  French,  Dutch  and 
German.  Written  in  a  bright,  breezy  fashion,  and  at  the  same  time 
containing  a  great  deal  of  information,  it  became  the  most  popular 
book  of  travel  of  the  day.  The  German  poet,  Friedrich  Schiller,  was 
inspired  to  write  his  poem  "Nadowessie  Chief's  Death  Song"  by 
Carver's  vivid  description  of  Indian  customs. 

Carver  came  to  Wisconsin  in  the  year  1766,  but  his  book  was 
not  published  till  twelve  years  later.    This  was  its  title: 

THREE  YEARS'  TRAVELS  THROUGH  THE  INTERIOR  PARTS  OF  NORTH 
AMERICA,  for  More  than  Five  Thousand  Miles;  Containing  an  Account  of 
the  Great  Lakes  and  All  the  Lakes,  Islands  and  Rivers,  Cataracts,  Moun- 
tains, Minerals,  Soil  and  Vegetable  Productions  of  the  Northwest  Regions 
of  That  Vast  Continent;  With  a  Description  of  the  Birds,  Beasts,  Reptiles, 
Insects  and  Fishes  Peculiar  to  the  Country.  Together  With  a  Concise  His- 
tory of  the  Genius,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Indians  Inhabiting  the 
Lands  That  Lie  Adjacent  to  the  Heads  and  to  the  Westward  of  the  Great 
River  Mississippi;  and  an  Appendix  Describing  the  Uncultivated  Parts  of 
America  That  Are  Most  Proper  for  Forming  Settlements.  By  Captain 
Jonathan  Carver  of  the  Provincial  Troops  in  America. 

It  was  an  ambitious  enterprise  that  this  Connecticut  soldier  had 
in  view  when  he  began  his  5,000  mile  journey.  Believing  that  the 
French  had  published  inaccurate  maps  and  likewise  false  accounts 
relative  to  the  interior  of  the  continent  in  order  to  deceive  the  Eng- 
lish, it  was  his  purpose  to  journey  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
make  a  correct  map  and  tell  the  truth  about  the  great  interior  coun- 
try. He  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  his  task  by  early  training  along 
the  Indian  frontier  of  New  England.  In  the  bloody  massacre  at 
Fort  William  Henry  he  narrowly  escaped  the  scalping  knife.  Two 
savages  had  seized  him,  when  an  English  officer  clad  in  scarlet  vel- 
vet breeches  opportunely  hove  in  sight,  and  they  left  him  to  secure 
the  larger  prey.  He  dashed  into  the  woods  and  spent  three  miser- 
able days  and  nights  without  food  and  without  shelter  before  he 
reached  the  walls  of  Fort  Edward. 

122 


The  fitonj  of  the  State.  123 


Fitting  himself  out  as  a  trader  Capt.  Carver  reached  the  aban- 
doned and  tumble-down  fort  that  had  borne  the  high-sounding  title 
of  Fort  Edward  Augustus  (Green  Bay)  in  September,  1766.  A  few 
families  of  easy-going  French  were  living  here,  and  he  tarried  only 
long  enough  to  observe  the  surroundings  and  jot  down  a  few  notes 
about  the  vegetation  and  the  soil.  A  few  days  later,  ascending  the 
Fox  river,  he  reached  the  great  town  of  the  Winnebagoes  on  a  small 
island  at  the  entrance  of  the  lake  of  that  name.  An  Indian  queen 
who  was  called  Glory  of  the  Morning  ruled  this  village,  and  Capt. 
Carver  enjoyed  her  hospitality  for  several  days.  He  says  that  the 
queen  "received  me  with  great  civility  and  entertained  me  in  a  very 
distinguished  manner  during  the  four  days  I  continued  with  her." 

Despite  her  attractive  name,  the  queen  was  not  marvelously 
beautiful.  "She  was  a  very  ancient  woman,  small  in  stature  and 
not  much  distinguished  by  her  dress  from  several  young  women  that 
attended  her,"  is  the  way  Capt.  Carver  described  her,  and  he  added: 
"Her  attendants  seemed  greatly  pleased  whenever  I  showed  any 
tokens  of  respect  for  their  queen,  particularly  when  I  saluted  her, 
which  I  frequently  did  to  acquire  her  favor.  On  these  occasions  the 
goo'd  lady  endeavored  to  assume  a  juvenile  gaiety,  and  by  her  smiles 
showed  she  was  equally  pleased  with  the  attention  I  paid  her." 

In  departing  from  the  village  of  Glory  of  the  Morning  Captain 
Carver  made  the  queen  a  number  of  suitable  presents,  and  received 
her  blessing  in  return.  He  then  proceeded  along  the  Fox  to  the 
portage  and  thence  down  the  Wisconsin  river,  or  Ouisconsin  as  he 
spelled  it.  The  great  fields  of  wild  rice  that  almost  choked  the 
former  stream,  and  the  myriads  of  wild  fowl  that  fed  on  the  suc- 
culent grain,  attracted  his  attention. 

"This  river  is  the  greatest  resort  of  wild  fowl  of  every  kind  that 
I  met  with  in  the  wholS  course  of  my  travels,"  he  wrote.  "Fre- 
quently the  sun  would  be  obscured  by  them  for  some  minutes  to- 
gether.    Deer  and  bear  are  very  numerous  in  these  parts." 

From  the  time  he  left  Green  Bay  till  his  canoe  was  beached  at 
Prairie  du  Chien,  Captain  Carver  had  seen  no  trace  of  white  men. 
Well  built  Indian  towns  greeted  his  view  as  he  floated  down  the 
Wisconsin,  but  at  Prairie  du  Chien  he  found  the  most  notable  town. 

"It  is  a  large  town  and  contain's  about  300  families,"  he  wrote. 
"The  houses  are  well  built  after  the  Indian  manner  and  pleasantly 
situated  on  a  very  rich  soil,  from  which  they  raised  every  necessary 
of  life  in  great  abundance.  I  saw  many  horses  here  of  a  good  size 
and  shape.  This  town  is  the  great  mart  where  all  the  adjacent 
tribes,  and  even  those  who  inhabit  the  most  remote  branches  of  the 
Mississippi,  annually  assemble  about  the  latter  end  of  May,  bringing 
with  them  the  furs  to  dispose  of  to  the  traders.  But  it  is  not  always 
that  they  conclude  their  sale  here;  this  is  determined  by  a  general 
council  of  the  chiefs,  who  consult  whether  it  would  be  more  condu- 


124 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin   History. 


cive  to  their  interest  to  sell  their  goods  at  this  place  or  carry  them 
on  to  Louisiana  or  Michilimackinac." 

It  has  been  claimed  for  Carver  that  he  was  the  first  traveler 
who  made  known  to  the  people  of  Europe  the  existence  of  the 
ancient  mounds  found  in  the  Mississippi  valley  and  long  believed  to 
have  been  the  work  of  an  extinct  people.  This  is  his  description  of 
what  he  conceived  to  be  an  ancient  fortification,  but  since  assumed 
to  have  been  an  elevation  to  keep  the  wigwams  of  the  builders  above 
the  annual  overflow  of  Lake  Pepin: 


Capt.  Jonathan  Carver. 
(From  Photographic  Copy  of  Portrait  in  Third  London  Edition,  Carver's  Travels.) 


"One  day,  having  landed  on  the  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  some 
miles  below  Lake  Pepin,  whilst  my  attendants  were  preparing  their 
dinner,  I  walked  out  to  take  a  view  of  the  adjacent  country.  I  had 
not  proceeded  far  before  I  came  to  a  fine,  level,  open  plain,  on  which 
I  perceived  at  a  little  distance  a  partial  elevation  that  had  the  appear- 
ance of  an  entrenchment.  On  a  nearer  inspection,  I  had  greater 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  had  really  been  intended  for  this  many 
centuries  ago.  Notwithstanding  it  was  now  covered  with  grass,  I 
could  plainly  discern  that  it  had  once  been  a  breastwork  of  about 
four  feet  in  height,  extending  the  best  part  of  a  mile,  and  sufiiciently 
capacious  to  cover  five  thousand  men.  Its  form  was  somewhat  cir- 
cular, and  its  flank  reached  to  the  river.     Though  much  defaced  by 


The  Stnri/  of  the  State.  125 

time,  every  angle  was  distinguishable,  and  appeared  as  regular,  and 
fashioned  with  as  much  military  skill,  as  if  planned  by  Vauban  him- 
self. The  ditch  was  not  visible,  but  I  thought,  on  examining  more 
curiously,  that  I  could  perceive  there  certainly  had  been  one.  From 
its  situation  also  I  am  convinced  that  it  must  have  been  designed  for 
this  purpose.  It  fronted  the  co'untry,  and  the  rear  was  covered  by 
the  river;  nor  was  there  any  rising  ground  for  a  considerable  way, 
that  commanded  it.  A  few  straggling  oaks  were  alone  to  be  seen 
near  it.  In  many  places  small  tracts  were  worn  across  it  by  the 
feet  of  elks  and  deer,  and  from  the  depth  of  the  bed  of  earth  by 
which  It  was  covered  I  was  able  to  draw  certain  conclusions  of  its 
great  antiquity." 

Carver  spent  the  winter  among  the  Sioux  and  explored  Minne- 
sota to  a  considerable  extent.  They  told  him  much  about  the  coun- 
try to  the  west — of  a  great  river  that  emptied  into  the  Pacific;  of 
the  "Shining  Mountains,"  within  whose  bowels  could  be  found  pre- 
cious metals,  and  much  else  that  was  new  and  wonderful.  In  their 
great  council  cave,  they  gave  to  him  and  to  his  descendants  forever 
a  great  tract  of  land  about  14,000  square  miles  in  area,  embracing 
the  whole  of  the  Northwestern  part  of  Wisconsin  and  part  of  Min- 
nesota. At  least  this  gift  was  afterwards  made  the  basis  for  the 
famous  Carver  claim.  The  United  States  congress  after  long  in- 
vestigation and  consideration  rejected  the  claim.  Despite  this  action 
many  persons  were  duped  into  purchasing  land  on  the  strength  of 
Carver's  Indian  deed.  In  some  of  the  counties  of  Wisconsin  there 
are  still  on  file  some  of  the  worthless  conveyances  made  out  on  this 
shadowy  title. 

After  spending  some  time  in  the  Lake  Superior  region,  Carver 
returned  to  Michilimackinac.  In  his  little  birch  bark  canoe  he  had 
made  a  journey  of  nearly  one  thousnd  two  hundred  miles.  He 
returned  to  Boston  in  the  autumn  of  1768  and  proceeded  thence  to 
England.  There  ill  luck  pursued  him.  His  great  colonization 
schemes  collapsed  as  fast  as  he  planned  them.  In  the  great  city  of 
London  this  noted  traveler  died  of  starvation. 


ciiArri'iv'  IX. 

IHM<IN(;     rill'-,    U'AI^'     I(t|<     I\l)i:i'KNl)KNCE. 

ONf.v  llio  oilier  ilpph'H  of  t)if«  Kovohilionnry  wnr  rpju-ln-d  tho 
bordrrs  of  WlHconHln.  Tlie  patriot.  Htriiggle  in  the  tidewir.cr  ccl- 
onluM  had  lircn  in  progroMM  two  yoars  hofore  '^owb  of  It  renchod  the 
fow  JiituibltantH  of  tlip  Mraflerod  hamlolH  went  of  I^akff  MIrlrKiin. 
Indeed,  it.  Im  doubtful  whether  they  would  hnv<'  Itnown  of  it  even 
then,  or  eiinwl  niiicb  about  H  If  tbey  had.  but  for  the  cffortH  of  the 
UrltlHb  KeiuTal  at  Dolrolt  to  Hllr  up  the  WlHcoMHin  IndiaiiH  ngainHt 
the  Amerienn  "Iahik  KnIveH."  hh  the  KentueUhinH  were  railed,  tJ'  n. 
llatnilton  waw  luinwn  tm  the  "balr-bnyer  general"  beratiBe  he  wnw 
reported  to  luive  olTered  a.  br»iinty  for  every  Anierlean  »ralp  taUen 
during  the  conlllct.  When  IiIh  einlHBarlOH  made  their  tempting  offer 
to  tho  Indiana  villaged  along  the  Kox  and  WIsronHln  riverH,  (hey 
found  no  dltlleiilty  in  perHiuiding  potne  of  the  latter  to  Join  the  Htand 
nrd  of  tlie  ICiikMhIi  hing.  They  were  an  ready  to  take  the  Hcalpn  of 
the  Anierir-iiM  front ierHUieii  aH  twenty  yearH  before  they  had  been 
to  loinalnwl'  the  very  ujen  who  were  now  enllHtlng  their  Herviren. 

Clile''  among  the  men  who  enteicd  into  the  plauH  of  thr  lliitiHb 
wa«  (^hnrlcM  (lautler.  a  Hon  of  (•harleH  hangla(b''H  siHter.  Like  hin 
famoiiH  imele,  Oniitler  waw  a  daHhing  Hon  of  the  woodH,  who  knew 
no  fenr  and  loved  adventure  for  adventtire'n  nake.  The  Dritinh  gave 
liitu  a  eapfain's  roinml«i«lon  during  the  llevoliMlonary  war.  Ho 
npoke  (he  language  of  all  (he  NordiweMtern  tribeM  lluently.  and  he 
went  with  wnr  lieltw  from  village  to  village  along  (he  l'"ox  and  WIh- 
eoiu.ln.  At  Milwaukee  be  experieneed  Kome  dUIlcnlly  in  persuading 
the  renegade  IndinuM  who  made  thlH  village  (heir  ln>n(l(puir(erH  1.) 
(like  tip  (lie  tomahawk. 

Ho  oliHliuate  wern  tbey  (lint  l.niiKbidr  rniirlinliil  lo  niiikc  the 
nt(euij)(  ill  perHoii,  A  Krand  eoiinrll  wiin  held  at  Milwaukee  ((hen 
known  nm  Milwaeky)  and  (he  redoul)table  leader  u«pd  all  the  elo- 
qneneo  at  hln  rommand  without  avail.  He  then  decided  to  roHort  to 
an  expedient  wiileh  he  believed  would  appeal  to  the  Indian  tenjp''i'H- 
nient  better  (ban  any  argumeiil,  .lofiepb  'I'aRse'H  nieiudir  of  Lang- 
lade thUB  denr-rlbeM  (be  rplKr)de  wluiehy  l,!iiiKliide  overraine  Indian 
obBllnaey: 

"lie  ereeied  n  lodge  In  (lie  iiiidHl  of  (lu'  Indian  village,  wllh  a 
door  a(  eaeh  end;  he  (ben  bad  wpveral  dogH  kilb-d,  preparaiory  to 
the  dog  feanl.  and  plaeed  (be  lnnrt  of  one  of  thene  animniB  on  a  Btirk 
at  oarh  opening.  'I'IiIb  done,  lie  invited  the  aavagOB  to  the  dog 
tenHi,  of  which  they  ar«  very  rmni  Arterwardi*  he  chan(rd  a  war 
Nong,  and  paHMing  around  the  lodge  from  one  door  lo  the  other, 
tanted    at   each   a    pieee   of   the   dog'n   heart.     TIiIb   Bigntf1e<l    that    if 

ISO 


The  .Stori/  uf  thr  State.  127 

brave  hearts  beat  in  bosoms  of  the  Indians,  they  would  follow  his 
example  and  accompany  him  to  war.  It  was  an  ancient  custom,  and 
they  recognized  the  force  of  Langlade's  appeal;  so  one  after  another 
they  chanted  the  old  war  song  and  directed  their  steps  in  large  num- 
bers to  I'Arbre  Croche." 

The  efforts  of  Langlade  and  Gautier  to  send  the  Wisconsin  In- 
dians on  the  war  path  against  the  handful  of  men  under  the  gallant 
Virginian,  George  Rogers  Clark,  had  but  meager  results.  The  In- 
dians whom  they  gathered  for  the  expedition  embarked  in  canoes, 
but  when  they  reached  St.  Joseph  they  learned  that  Gen.  Hamilton 
had  been  captured  at  Fort  Vincennes  by  Clark's  Virginians  and 
Kentuckians.    They  returned  home  in  disgust  without  a  single  scalp. 

In  the  Canadian  archives  at  Ottawa  are  copies  of  correspondence 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum  at  London  that  contain  much 
information  with  reference  to  these  episodes  in  Wisconsin  history. 
Among  the  letters  are  some  that  Gautier  wrote  to  the  British  offi- 
cials detailing  his  experience  in  sending  the  Wisconsin  Indians  on 
the  war  path  against  the  American  fronticMsmen.  This  son  of  the 
forest  was  readier  with  tomahawk  and  knife  than  with  the  pen,  and 
his  letters  are  somewhat  obscure  in  meaning  as  well  as  uncertain  In 
orthography.  He  gives  minute  particulars  of  the  means  he  employed 
to  inflame  tlae  Indians.  This  is  a  speech  he  made  at  one  of  their 
councils: 

"My  brothers,  I  announce  to  you  on  the  part  of  your  fathers 
that  if  you  do  not  hasten  to  see  him  this  year,  you  will  make  him 
think  that  you  arc  not  his  children  and  he  will  be  angry. 

"He  has  a  long  arm  and  very  large  hands. 

"He  is  good,  he  has  a  good  heart  when  his  children  heed  him. 

"He  is  bad,  h^  is  terrible,  he  sits  in  judgment  on  all  the  Indians 
and  French." 

Though  none  of  the  incidents  of  the  George  Rogers  Clark 
expedition  occurred  on  Wisconsin  soil,  they  played  a  large  part  in 
determining  Wisconsin's  future.  As  a  result  of  this  expedition,  Wis- 
consin is  to-day  under  the  stars  and  stripes  instead  of  the  banner  oC 
St.  George.  When  the  Revolutionary  war  began  all  the  Western 
forts  were  garrisoned  by  British  soldiers.  Clark  formed  the  daring 
plan  of  capturing  them  by  surprise,  and  succeeded  in  enlisting  the 
cooperation  of  Patrick  Henry,  governor  of  Virginia.  With  a  small 
force  of  frontiersmen,  153  men  in  all,  he  marched  into  the  Illi- 
nois country,  captured  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  without  firing  a  shot 
and  then  secured  possession  of  Vincennes.  His  force  was  so  small 
that  he  could  spare  but  two  men  to  hold  the  latter  post.  Gen.  Ham- 
ilton marched  from  Detroit  to  recapture  it,  with  his  British  soldiers 
and  an  Indian  rabble  partly  recruited  from  Wisconsin.  Not  know- 
ing how  numerous — or,  rather,  liow  few — the  Americans  were,  Gen. 
Hamilton  besieged  the  fort  with  his  force  of  thirty  regulars,  fifty 
volunteers  and  400  Indians,  and  demanded  its  surrender.    The  two 


128  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

plucky  Americans  sent  back  the  defiant  answer  ttiat  tliey  would  sur- 
render if  permitted  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war,  otherwise 
they  would  defy  the  British  to  take  the  fort.  Gen.  Hamilton 
accepted  the  proposal  and  was  astonished  beyond  measure  when  the 
entire  garrison  of  two  men  marched  out  cff  the  fort. 

George  Rogers  Clark,  when  he  learned  that  the  British  had 
recaptured  Vincennes,  determined  on  another  bold  stroke.  The 
march  of  his  handful  of  Long  Knives,  without  provisions  and  with 
little  ammunition,  through  an  inundated  stretch  miles  in  extent, 
where  they  had  to  wade  sometimes  up  to  their  necks  in  water,  in 
weather  so  cold  that  their  clothes  froze  as  solid  as  coats  of  mail,  is 
one  of  the  most  heroic  episodes  in  the  annals  of  American  history. 
Clark  had  with  him  less  than  200  men  to  undertake  the  capture  of  a 
well  provisioned  and  equipped  fort,  supplied  with  artillery  and 
defended  by  500  soldiers  and  Indian  warriors.  Their  march  across  the 
country,  a  distance  of  175  miles,  was  attended  with  such  hardships 
that  it  seemed  as  if  human  endurance  could  not  meet  the  test.  Clark 
detailed  twenty-five  picked  men  to  shoot  down  those  who  would 
refuse  to  march.  He  also  inspired  the  men  by  various  expedients, 
such  as  having  them  join  in  singing  patriotic  songs.  A  journal  of  the 
journey  has  been  preserved,  from  which  a  few  extracts  taken  at 
random  will  indicate  the  nature  of  their  laborious  march  through 
the  inundated  district: 

"Rain  all   this  day — no  provisions." 

"One  of  the  men  killed  a  deer,  which  was  brought  into  camp.  Very  accept- 
able." 

"Marched  on  in  the  waters.  Heard  the  evening  and  morning  guns  from  the 
fort.    No  provisions  yet.    Lord  help  us!" 

"Plunged  into  the  waters  sometimes  to  the  neck,  for  more  than  one  league, 
when  we  stopped  on  the  next  hill  of  the  same  name  (Momib),  there  being  no 
dry  land  on  any  side  for  many  leagues." 

"Many  of  the  men  much  cast  down,  particularly  the  volunteers.  No  pro- 
visions of  any  sort,  now  two  days.    Hard  fortune!" 

"Camp   very  quiet,   but  hungry — some  almost  in  despair." 

A  story  has  been  preserved  by  the  members  of  Clark's  family 
that  well  illustrates  his  fertility  of  resource  when  occasion 
demanded.  The  men  had  halted  where  the  land  was  comparatively 
dry;  they  were  hungry,  cold  and  tired  and  they  hesitated  to  plunge 
into  the  chill  water.  Among  them  was  a  sergeant  whose  six  feet 
two  inches  of  height  contrasted  strikingly  with  that  of  a  diminu- 
tive drummer  boy  who  had  accompanied  the  men  from  Kaskaskia. 
Both  were  great  favorites  with  the  men.  Knowing  this,  Clark 
"mounted  the  little  drummer  on  the  shoulders  of  the  stalwart  ser- 
geant and  gave  orders  to  him  to  advance  into  the  half  frozen  water. 
He  did  so,  the  little  drummer  beating  the  charge  from  his  lofiy 
perch,  while  Clark,  with  sword  in  hand  followed  them,  giving  the 
command  forward  march!  as  he  threw  aside  the  floating  ice.  Elated 
and  amuse'd  with  the  scene,  the  men  promptly  obeyed,  holding  their 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


129 


rifles  above  their  heads  and,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  reached  the 
high  land  beyond  them  safely." 

The  narrative  of  the  final  capture  of  the  fort  and  the  uncondi- 
tional surrender  of  Gen.  Hamilton  is  a  stirring  chapter — Clark's 
strategem  of  marching  and  countermarching  his  men  around  hills 
several  times  so  as  to  give  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  size  of  his 
command;  his  night  attack  on  the  fort;  the  flag  of  truce,  and  the 
order  of  Clark  that  Hamilton  surrender  or  "depend  on  such  treat- 
ment as  is  justly  due  a  murderer";  finally  the  unconditional  sur- 
render of  the  garrison. 


The  Little  Drummer  Boy  and  the  Big  Sergeant. 


(An  Episode  of  the  George  Rogers  Clark  Campaign.     Reproduced  from  English's 
"Conquest  of  the  Northwest." 


Thus  was  conquered  the  Northwest.  When  the  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed  that  insured  independence  to  the  American  colonies, 
Great  Britain  did  not  want  to  yield  that  part  of  North  America  now 
comprising  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan  and  Ohio,  but  the 
shrewd  diplomacy  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Jay  and  John  Adams 
— the  American  commissioners — in  demonstrating  that  Clark's  con- 
quest had  placed  their  country  in  military  possession  of  the  region, 
prevailed,  and  Great  Britain  had  to  yield  its  claim. 

The  notable  exploit  of  George  Rogers  Clark  created  consterna- 
tion even  in  the  remote  forests  of  Wisconsin.    At  Prairie  du  Chien 


130  Leading  Ecciits  of  Wiscoii.sin   History. 

a  great  quantity  of  fur  had  been  stored  in  the  old  French  fort.  It 
was  feared  that  the  Big  Knives  had  intentions  of  making  a  raid  on 
these  valuable  stores.  Langlade,  who  represented  British  interests 
at  Green  Bay,  engaged  to  guard  them.  In  the  summer  of  1780  lie 
was  joined  by  an  English  trader  from  Michilimackinac,  named  John 
Long,  who  was  accompanied  by  twenty  Canadians  and  a  large  force 
of  Indians.'  Long  has  left  a  journal  narrating  the  incidents  of  his 
trip. 

"We  arrived  at  Prairie  du  Ohien,"  he  wrote,  "where  we  found 
the  merchants'  peltry,  in  packs,  in  a  long  house,  guarded  by  Captain 
Langlade  and  some  Indians,  who  were  rejoiced  to  see  us.  After  rest- 
ing some  time,  we  took  out  about  300  packs  of  the  best  skins  and 
filled  the  canoes.  Sixty  more,  which  remained,  we  burned  to  pre- 
vent the  enemy  from  taking  them,  having  ourselves  no  room  to  stow 
any  more,  and  proceeded  on  our  journey  back  to  Michilimackinac. 
About  five  days  after  our  departure,  we  were  informed  that  the 
Americans  came  to  attack  us,  but  to  their  extreme  mortification  we 
were  out  of  their  reach." 

Although  not  so  stated  by  Long  in  his  narrative,  local  tradition 
has  it  that  the  sixty  packs  of  furs  which  he  could  not  take  along  in 
his  nine  birch  bark  canoes  were  destroj^ed  by  setting  fire  to  the  old 
French  fort  wherein  they  had  been  stored. 

The  5'ear  before  the  destruction  of  the  old  French  fort  at  Prairie 
du  Chien  Gautier  led  a  company  of  Wisconsin  Indians  against  a 
trading  post  in  Illinois  called  Le  Pe.  located  where  the  city  of  Peoria 
has  since  ITeen  built.  The  British  commander  at  Michilimackinac 
feared  that  the  Long  Knives  of  George  Rogers  Clark  would  take  and 
fortifj'  this  station,  and  at  his  instance  Gautier  led  his  warriors  on 
a  raid.  The  Indians  applied  the  torch  and  then  made  their  way 
back  to  Wisconsin  without  further  attempts  at  molesting  the  Amer- 
icans. 

Another  band  of  Indians  from  several  Wisconsin  tribes — Chip- 
pewas,  Bacs,  Foxes,  Menomonees  and  Winnebagoes — was  led  by  a 
trio  of  French  traders  on  a  raid  down  the  Mississippi  river.  Spain 
had  declared  war  against  Great  Britain  (1780)  and  these  Indians 
were  sent  to  attack  some  of  the  Spanish  settlements  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river.  Although  the  party  numbered  several  hundred, 
nothing  was  accomplished  beyond  capturing  an  American  boat  filled 
with  provisions  and  scalping  a  few  settlers  in  the  neighborhood  of 
St.  Louis. 

During  the  period  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  British  had  a 
number  of  vessels  plying  on  the  great  lakes.  One  of  them  was 
actively  engaged  in  cruising  part  of  the  time  along  the  Wisconsin 
side  of  Lake  Michigan,  as  appears  from  the  log  of  her  captain.  This 
collection  of  papers  is  now  in  the  British  Museum,  labeled  "Remarks 
on  Board  Her  Majesty's  Sloop  Felicity  by  Samuel  Roberts  on  Pilot- 
ing Her  on  Lake  Michigan."     Like  most  mariners  of  His  day.  Cap- 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


131 


tain  Roberts  was  not  an  expert  speller,  but  he  faithfully  jotted  down 
the  events  of  each  day  as  best  he  could.  His  mission  seems  to  have 
been  dual — to  trade  for  corn  and  to  strengthen  the  allegiance  of  the 
natives  to  the  British  cause.  One  entry  in  his  log,  showing  that 
there  was  at  that  time  a  trader  named  Morong  (probably  incorrect 
spelling)  at  Milwaukee  reads  thus,  in  part: 

"Remarks  on  Thursday,  4  Nov.,  1779 — At  2  this  afternoon  Mr. 
Gautly  returned  with  3  indeans  and  a  french  man  who  lives  at  Mill- 
wakey,  nam'd  Morong  nephew  to  Monsier  St.  Pier;  Mr.  Gautley  gives 
them  a  present  of  3  bottles  of  Rum  &  half  carrot  of  tobacco,  and 
also  told  them  the  manner  governor  Sinclair  could  wish  them  to  Be- 
have, at  which  they  seemed  weall  satisfeyed,  he  also  give  instruc- 


LANGLADE'S    WISCONSIN    INDIANS    AFTER    BRADDOCK'S    DEFEAT. 
AFTER    A    SKETCH   IN   BLACK'S    "OHIO." 

(The  painted  warriors  whom  Langlade  had  recruited  In  Wisconsin  and  Mich- 
igan secured  hundreds  of  scalps  to  carry  bacli  to  their  lodges,  after  the  half  of 
Braddock's  army  had  been  mowed  down  by  their  ambuscade.  The  corpses  were 
despoiled,  and  the  Indians  "ironically  decked  themselves  out  in  grenadier  caps, 
laced  coats  and  epaulettes.") 

tions  to  Monsieur  St.  Pier  to  deliver  some  strings  of  Wampum  and 
a  little  Keg  of  rum  to  the  following  &  a  carrot  of  Tobacco  in  gov- 
ernor Sinclairs  name;  likewise  the  manour  how  to  behave;  he  also 
gave  another  small  Kegg  with  some  strings  of  Wampum  with  a  car- 
rot of  Tobaco  to  Deliver  the  indeans  at  Millwakey  which  is  a  mixed 
Tribe  of  different  nations." 

The  day  before  this  liberal  presentation  of  rum  and  tobacco, 
Captain  Roberts  made  this  entry  in  the  sloop's  log:  "We  sett  the 
main  sail  &  stood  in  shoar  we  just  fetched  in  to  Millwakey  Bay;  at 
8  A.  M.  a  very  strong  gale;  we  cam  too  in  4  fathoms  watter;  hoist 
out  the  Boat;  sent  Mr.  Guntley  &  4  hands  on  shoer  with  dilBculty. 
Nothing  more  this  24  hours." 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 

Mrcii  difficulty  was  experienced  by  tlie  American  commissioners 
in  securing  recognition  of  their  claim  to  the  Northwest,  at  the  close 
of  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  boundaries  proposed  by  the  court  of 
France  in  1782  would  have  given  Wisconsin,  as  well  as  the  rest  of 
the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio,  to  the  English.  One  northern  bound- 
ary that  the  American  representatives  would  have  been  willing  to 
compromise  on  would  have  given  to  the  English  one-half  the  pres- 
ent states  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan.  Geographical  knowledge  of 
this  region  was  then  very  meager,  and  little  was  known  of  its 
resources.  It  was  fortunate  that  the  British  ministers  declined  this 
proposition  and  chose  instead  the  water  boundary  that  now  divides 
Canada  from  the  United  States. 

Following  the  definitive  treaty  that  gave  the  Northwest  to  the 
United  States  there  resulted  a  scramble  among  the  original  colonies 
for  the  possession  of  this  imperial  domain.  Virginia,  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut  and  New  York  claimed  it  in  whole  or  in  part,  on 
the  strength  of  royal  charters.  In  the  case  of  Virginia,  the  conquest 
of  George  Rogers  Clark  was  used  as  an  argument  to  fortify  the 
claim.  Finally,  all  the  claimants  ceded  their  real  or  alleged  claims 
to  the  government,  and  the  Northwest  Territory  was  created  by  act 
of  congress. 

Next  to  the  declaration  of  independence,  the  Ordinance  of  1787  is 
the  most  important  document  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
United  States.  This  organic  act  for  the  government  of  the  North- 
west contained  the  germs  of  that  which  is  purest  and  best  and  most 
beneficent  in  national  legislation.  Wisconsin  was  destined  not  to 
experience  the  full  measure  of  this  legislation  until  well  along  in  the 
following  century,  but  the  salient  features  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
are  the  essence  to-day  of  what  is  strongest  in  its  government.  Many 
of  the  provisions  contained  in  this  remarkable  document  were  then 
novel,  and  it  is  the  greater  evidence  of  broad  statesmanship  that 
their  incorporation  in  the  act  was  secured  despite  the  narrow  preju- 
dices of  the  times.  Thomas  Jefferson,  Manassah  Cutler  and  Nathan 
Dane  K^d  potent  influence  in  the  framing  of  the  document.  Some  of 
the  provisions  were  these: 

Public  Schools — "Schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  for- 
ever be  encouraged." 

Freedom — "There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servi- 
tude In  the  said  territory." 

Union  Forever — "The  said  territory  and  the  states  which  may  be 
formed  therein  shall  forever  remain  a  part  of  this  confederacy  of 
the  United  States  of  America." 

132 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


133 


It  was  also  provided  that  good  faith  should  be  observed  toward 
the  Indians;  that  no  person  should  be  molested  on  account  of  his 
mode  of  worship  or  religious  sentiments,  and  the  ordinance  also 
guaranteed  to  the  inhabitants  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  trial  by 
jury,  proportional  representation  in  the  legislature,  and  the  privi- 
leges of  the  common  law. 

This  was  the  basic  law  for  the  Northwest  Territory — an  area 
destined  to  become  the  very  heart  of  the  nation.  Three  thousand 
miles  of  navigable  waters  give  form  to  this  great  region,  and  within 
the  great  lakes  is  stored  "nearly  one-half  of  the  fresh  water  of  the 
globe." 

In  the  carving  of  five  great  states  out  of  this  public  domain  of 
266,000  square  miles  there  is  material  for  a  chapter  in  which  Wis- 
consin figures  prominently. 


The   Attempt    to   Carve    the    Northwest. 

Map  Showing  the  Claims  on  Wisconsin  and  Other  Northwestern  Territory  Made 
by  Some  of  the  Original  Colonies. 


Ruins   of   Historic  Fort   Crawford. 
From  a  Photograph. 


PART  IV. 


PIONEER  DAYS  IN  THE  TERRITORY. 


Gov.   Henry  Dodge  as  He  Appeared  in  1836. 
From  an  Oil  Painting  by  Bowman. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FIRST    SETTLEMENTS. 

Ix  Aix  Wisconsin,  previous  to  the  year  1800,  tihere  were  not  to 
exceed  200  white  persons;  but  years  before  there  had  been  planted 
the  germs  whence  have  sprung  some  of  her  cities.  What  constitutes 
the  beginning  of  a  permanent  settlement  is  perhaps  difficult  of  defi- 
nition; controversies  as  to  who  were  the  first  permanent  settlers 
of  certain  towns  prove  that  disagreements  may  arise  relative  to  this 
proposition,  with  arguments  to  fortify  the  contention  of  either  dis- 
putant. It  is  so  with  many  cFties  that  have  developed  in  Wisconsin. 
Assuming,  however,  that  the  term  permanent  settler  may  be  applied 
to  the  pioneers  who  made  their  habitations  in  certain  localities  with 
no  known  intention  of  removing  thence,  the  first  permanent  settle- 
ments of  Wisconsin  may  be  enumerated  as  follows,  the  list  em- 
bracing all  in  existence  previous  to  the  ushering  in  of  the  nine- 
teenth century: 

Green  Bay — ^Augustin  Langlade  and  his  son  Charles,  with  their 
families,  1764. 

Prairie  du  Chien — Bazil  Giard,  Augustin  Ange  and  Pierre  An- 
taya,  1781. 

Milwaukee — Jean  Baptiste  Mirandeau,  1789;  Jacques  Vieau,  1795. 

Portage — Laurent  Barth,  1793;  Jean  Ecuyer,  1798. 

Kaukauna — Dominick  Ducharme,  1790. 

Though  not  the  first  persons  to  erect  habitations  at  these  three 
places  they  were  the  first  whose  purpose  was  to  remain.  Traders 
had  made  these  important  stations  their  transient  abode  years 
before,  but  with  the  migratory  instincts  of  their  kind,  had  tarried 
but  a  brief  period.  Elsewhere,  too,  commercial  rovers  had  erected  a 
rude  shelter,  but  they  left  before  any  vestige  of  permanency  had 
attached  to  the  spots  chosen  for  their  barter  stations.  They  cannot 
therefore  be  counted  among  the  first  settlers  of  Wisconsin.  Even 
their  names  are  now  forgotten.  A  Frenchman  had  established  a 
trading  post  where  Sheboygan  now  is,  about  1779,  or  possibly  earlier. 
At  La  Pointe  there  had  been  a  succession  of  forest  merchants, 
among  them  such  famous  travelers  as  Pierre  Radisson  (1658) ;  Alex- 
ander Henry  (1765);  Michael  Cadotte  (1800).  The  huts  of  none  of 
these  men  became  the  nucleus  of  a  permanent  settlement. 

Oldest  of  Wisconsin's  settlements.  Green  Bay,  has  a  history  dat- 
ing back  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half.  For  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  the  history  of  Green  Bay  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 

137 


138  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

history  of  Wisconsin.  "Years  before  the  Langlades  concluded  to 
make  this  gateway  their  home,  these  famous  French  partisans  had 
frequently  propelled  their  birch-bark  canoes  between  this  place  and 
Michilimackinac.  It  is  diflBcult  to  determine  just  when  they  con- 
cluded to  establish  themselves  here  permanently;  the  year  1764  is 
probably  the  correct  date.  The  village  grew  but  slowly;  by  the  year 
1785  there  were  but  seven  families  here,  comprising  fifty-six  persons, 
and  this  number  included  their  Pawnee  slaves.  It  appears  that 
these  slaves  were  treated  rather  as  servants  than  in  the  degraded 
sense  that  the  term  slave  would  imply. 

A  record  of  the  first  enumeration  of  the  inhabitants  of  Green 
Bay  has  been  preserved.  The  seven  families  included  Charles  Lan- 
glade, his  wife,  two  Pawnee  slaves  and  three  domestics;  one  Lagral 
and  his  wife;  Jean  Baptiste  Brunet,  his  wife,  three  children  and  a 
domestic;  Amable  Roy,  his  wife,  two  Pawnee  slaves,  a  domestic  and 
Jean  Baptiste  Le  Due,  an  old  trader  who  lived  with  them;  Joseph 
Roy,  his  wife,  five  children  and  a  domestic;  a  young  man  named 
Marchand,  agent  of  a  trading  company  of  Michilimackinac,  and  four 
domestics.  The  houses  occupied  by  Langlade,  Grignon,  Amble  Roy 
and  Marchand  were  located  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Fox,  and  across 
the  river  were  those  of  Joseph  Roy,  Lagral  and  Brunet. 

.  Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  elapsed  before  the  census  of  Green 
Bay  counted  250  persons. 

It  is  known  that  Prairie  du  Chien  was  regarded  as  a  gathering 
place  for  the  Indians  of  many  tribes  long  previous  to  the  planting 
of  a  village  there.  Located  at  the  mouth  of  the  great  Wisconsin 
river  highway,  which,  with  the  Fox,  constituted  the  much  frequented 
route  that  bisected  the  state,  it  was  the  naturally-located  mart  where 
the  tribesmen  of  Iowa,  Illinois,  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  could 
exchange  their  commodities.  The  early  traders  noted  its  advantage- 
ous position,  and,  as  at  Green  Bay,  erected  a  fort.  The  first  forts 
were  all  built  at  trading  centers;  they  were  designed  less  as  military 
strongholds  than  as  stations  for  the  trade  in  peltries. 

The  chronicles  of  Prairie  du  Chien  credit  a  Frenchman  named 
Jean  Marie  Cardinelle  and  his  wife  with  having  made  their  home 
there  for  a  time,  as  early  as  1726.  Mrs.  Cardinelle  survived  her  hus- 
band and  half  a  dozen  more  later  husbands,  if  tradition  errs  not. 
She  lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  130  years,  and  was  doubtless  a 
widow  oftener  than  any  other  woman  who  at  any  time  made  Wis- 
consin her  home.  In  her  old  age  the  widow  of  Cardinelle  grew 
garrulous,  and  loved  to  tell  of  her  early  experiences.  She  related 
that  when  she  arrived  at  Prairie  du  Chien  with  her  husband  and  an 
Indian  slave  (whom  she  subsequently  married),  "the  buffalo  were 
so  numerous  as  sometimes  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  three 
adventurers  in  their  frail  bark  vessel,  and  they  had  to  wait  for  the 
vast  horde  to  cross  the  river  before  their  canoe  could  pass  in  safety." 


The  Story  of  the  State.  139 

Dr.  Brunson,  a  local  historian  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  was  inclined 
to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  date  given  by  the  Cardinelles  as  the 
year  of  their  arrival,  and  he  believed  that  the  relict  of  many  spouses 
was  not  as  ancient  as  she  believed  herself.  Dr.  Brunson  thought 
that  the  advent  of  the  Cardinelles  could  not  well  have  taken  place 
earlier  than  1767,  and  possibly  even  some  years  later. 

When  the  English  traveler  Carver  visited  Prairie  du  Chien  in 
1766,  he  found  no  white  man  there.  At  any  rate  his  narrative  men- 
tions none.  The  permanent  settlement  of  Prairie  du  Chien  is  usually 
reckoned  from  the  year  1781,  and  land  titles  date  from  this  period. 
During  this  year  a  trio  of  Frenchmen  came  to  the  confluence  of  the 
Wisconsin  with  the  Mississippi  river  and  began  what  developed  into 
a  settlement.  Their  names  were  Bazil  Giard,  Augustin  Ange  and 
Pierre  Antaya.  Giard  died  at  Prairie  du  Chien  about  1819,  at  about 
70  years  of  age,  and  left  a  large  family.  Antaya  was  also  survived 
by  a  large  family,  most  of  them  girls.  Ange  left  the  settlement  in 
1825  for  the  upper  Mississippi. 

The  beginnings  of  Portage  were  humble;  they  resulted  from  the 
necessities  of  travelers  who  used  the  Fox-Wisconsin  route.  This 
was  the  great  highway  across  the  state.  The  carry  across  the  mile 
and  a  half  of  marshy  stretch  dividing  the  two  streams  suggested  to 
Ijawrence  Barth,  a  trapper,  the  idea  of  furnishing  transportation 
facilities  for  the  boats  of  the  voyagers.  A  horse  and  a  vehicle  for 
carrying  these  effects  enabled  him  to  do  considerable  business  at  the 
portage.  Three  years  later  there  came  to  the  portage  another  French- 
man, with  improved  facilities,  and  became  Earth's  competitor.  Hav- 
ing diplomatically  married  a  Winnebago  woman  whose  tribe  made 
this  spot  their  home,  the  new  transportation  agent,  Jean  Ecuyer, 
was  able  to  divert  most  of  Barth's  business.  He  flourished  for  a 
time,  and  others  then  entered  the  field.  The  transportation  of 
traders'  boats  continued  to  be  the  chief  business  at  the  portage  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Pierre  Paquette,  who  made  the  Port- 
age his  headquarters  for  many  years,  was  one  of  the  best-known 
scouts  and  traders  of  the  Northwest.  Little  is  known  of  his  early 
career.  He  first  appeared  at  the  Portage  when  John  Jacob  Astor 
secured  control  of  the  Southwest  company  and  merged  it  with  the 
American  Fur  company.  Paquette's  services  as  Indian  interpreter 
were  frequently  sought.  He  was  the  official  interpreter  at  the  mak- 
ing of  treaties  at  Green  Bay,  in  1828,  at  Prairie  du  Chien  in  1825 
and  Rock  Island  in  1835.  He  had  the  confidence  of  the  Indians  in 
unbounded  degree;  to  them  his  advice  was  law. 

Marvelous  stories  are  told  of  Paquette's  remarkable  feats  of 
strength.  "He  was  the  strongest  man  I  ever  knew,"  Henry  Mer- 
rill of  Portage  said  of  him.  "He  would  pick  up  a  barrel  of  pork  as 
easily  as  another  man  would  a  ten-gallon  keg.  I  had  a  cask  of  dry 
white  lead  at  my  door,  with  800  pounds  of  lead  in  it,  and  I  was  told 


140  Leading  Events  of  ^fisconsill  History. 

by  my  clerk  that  he  took  it  by  the'  chimes  and  lifted  it  ofE  the  floor." 
B.  L.  Webb  tells  of  this  incident  witnessed  by  him:  A  boat  had 
arrived  at  Webb's  warehouse,  laden  with  sacks  of  wheat  containing 
three  bushels  each.  In  transferring  the  grain  to  the  warehouse,  two 
men  would  take  a  sack,  give  it  a  swing  and  toss  it  to  the  floor,  which 
was  a  little  above  their  heads.  Paquette  witnessed  the  unloading 
for  awhile,  then  stepped  forward,  seized  a  sack  in  each  hand  and 
tossed  them  to  the  floor  without  apparent  exertion.  Such  athletic 
feats  caused  Paquette  to  become  known  as  the  "Modern  Samson." 

Long  after  Green  Bay  and  Prairie  du  Chien  had  become  budding 
villages,  Milwaukee  had  scarcely  attained  to  the  dignity  of  a  ham- 
let. Jean  Baptiste  Mirandeau,  who  is  credited  with  having  been  the 
first  man  who  built  a  house  here  with  the  intention  of  remaining, 
was  a  blacksmith.  He  lived  here  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  was 
buried  near  the  intersection  of  Wisconsin  street  and  Broadway.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  proof  of  the  date  of  his  coming  is  not 
wholly  satisfactory. 

Jacques  Vieau  built  a  trading  post  of  two  substantial  log  houses 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Menomonee  river,  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  baj'.  Several  of  his  children  were  born  here,  among  them 
Joseph,  Louis,  Amable,  Charles,  Nicholas  and  Peter.  The  latter  is 
still  living,  his  home  being  at  Mukwonago.  The  elder  Vieau  became 
the  father-in-law  of  Solomon  Juneau,  whom  the  old  settlers  of  Mil- 
waukee like  to  mention  as  Milwaukee's  first  settler.  Juneau  was 
Vieau's  clerk,  and  wooed  and  won  his  employer's  attractive  daugh- 
ter, Josette.  It  was  as  Vieau's  clerk  that  he  came  to  Milwaukee  in 
1818.  He  was  the  first  land-owner  here,  for  the  others  exercised 
squatter  sovereignty  merely.  This  fact  has  probably  had  some 
influence  in  crediting  Juneau  with  having  been  Milwaukee's  first  per- 
manent setttler. 


CHAPTER  II. 

VILLAGE    LIFE    A    HUNDRED    YEARS    AGO. 

The  genesis  of  Wisconsin's  villages  was  French.  When  the 
British  were  in  military  control,  the  settlements  remained  French. 
The  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war  did  not  disturb  French  charac- 
teristics. 

The  Jay  treaty  of  1794,  which  stipulated  that  the  British  should 
absolutely  surrender  the  Old  Northwest  to  the  Americans,  made  no 
difference  in  this  remote  region.  There  was,  indeed,  no  appreciable 
change  till  after  the  war  of  1812.  The  Americans  were  nominally  in 
control,  but  French  methods  still  prevailed.  The  French  were  easy- 
going at  best,  and  the  patriarchal  rule  that  governed  their  com- 
munities tended  to  retard  growth.  The  habitant,  as  he  was  called, 
was  not  over-thrifty  nor  over-industrious;  he  loved  amusement,  and 
as  long  as  he  could  fill  his  stomach  comfortably  was  averse  to  work 
more  than  was  absolutely  necessary.  The  French  habitant  was  the 
opposite  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  pioneer  who  supplanted  him. 

Love  of  social  intercourse  led  these  first  settlers  to  build  their 
cabins  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  along  the  river  banks.  As 
they  patterned  after  the  beaver  and  muskrat  in  locating  their  hum- 
ble structures  of  logs  almost  in  the  water,  they  derived  the  sobriquet 
of  "muskrat  Frenchmen,"  when  the  Americans  came  among  them. 
The  conveniences  of  the  village  community  life  were  of  the  most 
primitive  nature,  but  the  careless,  easy-going  people  managed  to 
live  contentedly  and  to  enjoy  themselves.  The  caleche  or  pony  cart 
served  in  summer  and  the  wooden  carry-all,  fancifully  adorned,  was 
used  in  winter  as  a  vehicle.  Buffalo  robes  served  for  seats,  and  the 
pleasure  drives  were  enjoyed  despite  the  jogging  over  the  rough 
roads  in  springless  vehicles. 

Tlfe  winter  was  the  season  for  gaiety  and  merry-making.  There 
were  parties  and  dances,  races  on  the  ice  and  other  diversions.  The 
young  men  and  young  women  were  resourceful  in  devising  means 
for  passing  the  long  months  pleasantly. 

Agricultural  pursuits  were  conducted  on  the  rudest  plan  imag- 
inable. The  old  French  plough  was  made  of  wood,  except  the  share. 
The  harness  was  of  twisted  raw-hide,  and  in  place  of  the  yoke  famil- 
iar in  Yankeeland,  a  rope  was  attached  to  the  horns  of  the  oxen. 
In  most  of  the  French  villages  of  the  Northwest,  a  hundred  year.s 
ago,  there  was  a  "common  field,"  used  by  all,  and  this  enclosure  was 
used  for  the  benefit  of  all. 

"In  this  field,  which  sometimes  contained  several  hundred 
acres,"  says  a  chronicle  of  the  times,  "each  villager  and  head  of  a 
family  had  assigned  to  him  a  certain  portion  of  ground  for  the  use 

141 


142  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

of  himself  and  family,  as  a  field  and  garden.  The  extent  of  the  field 
was  proportionate  to  the  number  of  persons  or  families  in  the  vil- 
lage. The  subdivisions  were  in  due  proportion  to  the  number  of 
members  in  each  family.  Each  individual,  or  family,  labored  and 
reaped  the  product  of  his  own  allotment  for  his  own  use.  If  the 
enclosure  became  ruinous  or  was  neglected  contiguous  to  the  plat  of 
any  family  or  individual,  so  as  to  endanger  the  general  interest, 
that  individual  or  family  forfeited  their  claim  to  the  use  of  the  com- 
mon field." 

The  use  of  this  common  garden  field  was  regulated  by  a  series  of 
cast  iron  rules.  They  seemed  to  work  satisfactorily,  despite  their 
in  many  respects  arbitrary  nature.  "The  season  for  ploughing, 
planting,  reaping  and  other  agricultural  operations  in  the  common 
field  was  regulated  by  special  enactments.  Even  the  form  and  man- 
ner of  door  yards,  gardens  and  stable  yards,  and  other  arrangements 
for  mutual  benefit  and  the  convenience  of  all,  were  regulated  by 
special  enactments  of  the  little  village  senate.  Nothing  was  better 
calculated  to  improve  the  simple  and  benevolent  feelings  of  unso- 
phisticated human  nature,  to  maintain  the  blessings  of  peace  and 
harmony  and  the  prevalence  of  brotherly  love,  than  the  forms  of 
life  and  the  domestic  usages  which  prevailed  in  these  early  villages." 

Doubtless  agriculture  fiourished  little  in  Wisconsin  a  hundred 
years  ago,  because  there  was  too  much  reliance  upon  the  proceeds 
of  the  fur  trade  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  This  had  as  much  influ- 
ence as  the  blighting  paternalistic  methods  governing  the  pursuits  of 
husbandry. 

Intricacies  of  court  machinery  had  no  part  in  the  dispensing  of 
justice — or  dispensing  with  justice,  either — at  Green  Bay  or  Prairie 
du  Chien.  A  pompous  old  gentleman  who  drifted  into  the  former 
community  about  1792  exercised  the  functions  of  judge  at  the  Bay. 
Whence  Judge  Charles  Reaume  derived  his  authority  no  one  stopped 
to  question.  His  rulings  had  all  the  force  of  a  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme court,  and  the  simple  villagers  respected  them  as  the  law 
expounded  by  the  court  of  last  resort.  Judge  Reaume  was  an  orig- 
inal character,  and  numberless  are  the  stories  that  have  survived 
about  his  judicial  eccentricities.  He  had  never  heard  of  Blackstone. 
He  governed  as  did  the  wise  old  patriarchs  of  old.  On  one  occasion 
two  Frenchmen  who  had  quarreled  about  a  trivial  matter  came  to 
Judge  Reaume  with  their  grievances.  He  heard  what  each  had  to 
say  and  with  the  dignity  due  to  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  rend- 
ered his  decision: 

"You  are  both  wrong,"  he  said.  "You,"  pointing  his  index  finger 
at  the  plaintiff,  "you  bring  me  one  load  of  hay;  and  you,"  as  the 
digit  wandered  in  the  direction  of  the  defendant,  "you  bring  me  one 
load  of  wood.    The  case  is  settled." 

The  man  who  dispensed  justice  at  Prairie  du  Chien  was  known 
as  Col.  Boilvin,  and  was  built  after  a  similar  pattern.    It  was  sus- 


The  Stonj  of  the  State.  143 

pected,  but  not  positively  known,  that  he  actually  possessed  a  vol- 
ume of  statutes.  If  he  did,  he  never  referred  to  the  book.  The  kind 
of  law  dispensed  by  the  bibulously-inclined  justice  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  incident: 

A  man  named  Fry  was  under  suspicion  of  having  stolen  a  calf. 
Col.  Boilvin  determined  to  uphold  the  dignity  of  the  law  and  dis- 
patched his  constable  to  arrest  the  suspect.     He  soon  returned. 

"Here,  sir,"  said  the  constable.  "I  have  brought  Fry  to  you, 
as  you  ordered." 


AUGUSTIN    GRIGNON. 

From  an  Oil  Painting  in  the  Rooms  of  the  State  Historical  Society  at  Madison. 
(Grignon  was  a  grandson  of  the  famous  French  partisan,  Charles  Langlade, 
and  was  a  native  of  Green  Bay.  In  the  old  fur-trading  days  he  furnished  the 
conveyances  required  by  the  boatmen  in  malting  the  portage  at  the  Kakalin 
rapids,  on  the  Fox  River.  Grignon  was  the  author  of  what  is  doubtless  the  most 
interesting  and  valuable  of  the  early  pioneer  narratives.  He  dictated  the  recital 
to  the  late  Lyman  C.  Draper,  and  it  was  published  in  Vol.  3  of  the  "Wisconsin 
Historical  Collections.") 

The  colonel  gazed  sternly  at  the  man  suspected  of  being  the 
offender. 

"Fry,  you  great  rascal!"  quoth  he.  "What  for  you  steal  the 
calf?" 

"I  didn't  steal  the  calf,"  retorted  the  accused. 

"You  lie,  you  great  rascal!"  shouted  the  justice  as  he  shook  his 
fist  at  the  prisoner.  "Take  him  to  jail,"  as  he  waved  his  hand  to 
indicate  that  the  culprit  was  convicted  beyond  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt.  Then  he  turned  to  some  boon  companions  who  had  wit- 
nessed the  trial,  and  remarked:  "Oome,  gentlemen,  come,  let  us 
take  a  leetle  something." 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   CAPTURE   OF   PRAIRIE   DU   CHIEN. 

RuNNEKS  from  the  Ohio  country  came  among  the  Wisconsin 
Indians  when  Tecumseh  planned  his  great  uprising.  No  difliculty 
Vv'as  experienced  in  exciting  them  to  hostility  against  the  American 
Long  Knives.  One  Menomonee  chief,  Tomah,  refused  to  join  the 
revolt.  An  incident  is  related  by  James  Biddle,  a  Pennsylvanian 
who  was  in  Green  Bay  at  this  time,  illustrating  the  character  of  this 
famous  Indian.  According  to  his  narrative,  Tecumseh  came  about 
1811  to  a  council  of  the  Menomonees,  and  in  an  impassioned  speech 
sought  to  fire  his  hearers  with  his  own  ardor  for  war.  He  told  of 
the  many  enemies  he  had  slain  whose  scalps  had  adorned  is  belt, 
of  the  battles  he  had  fought  and  the  prowess  he  had  shown. 
When  the  Shawanoe  chieftain  had  ceased,  Tomah  arose  by  the  coun- 
cil fire.  With  quiet  dignity  he  referred  to  the  words  of  Tecumseh 
and  his  boast  of  many  enemies  slain  by  his  hands;  he  paused,  and 
with  great  dramatic  effect  he  said  in  a  tone  of  intense  pride: 

"But  it  Is  my  boast  that  these  hands  are  unsullied  by  human 
blood!" 

The  incident  narrated  may  not  be  based  on  fact,  but  the  spirit 
of  Tomah's  reply  certainly  actuated  this  well-known  chief,  for  he 
was  successful  for  a  time  in  preventing  his  braves  from  going  on 
the  war  path.  British  intrigue,  fortified  by  British  rum,  proved  more 
potent  later,  and  again  the  Indians  of  Wisconsin  ranged  themselves 
on  the  side  of  the  British  and  against  the  Americans.  In  the  bloody 
battle  at  the  river  Raisin,  the  ferocity  of  Wisconsin  Indians  made 
that  memorable  massacre  a  name  of  horror  along  the  frontier.  At 
Tippecanoe,  Wisconsin  Indians  shared  in  the  defeat  of  the  great 
Indian  chieftain. 

Some  time  after  the  war  of  1812  began,  it  became  evident  to  the 
Americans  that  Prairie  du  Chien  was  an  Important  place  to  hold  if 
the  British  allies  were  to  be  prevented  from  descending  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  raiding  the  American  settlements.  Accordingly  a  force 
under  Lieut.  James  Perkins  was  dispatched  to  hold  the  fort.  They 
went  slowly  up  the  river  in  a  gunboat  that  had  been  made  bullet- 
proof, the  force  comprising  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  well- 
equipped  with  ammunition  and  a  number  of  cannon.  Their  arrival 
surprised  the  inhabitants  at  the  Dog's  Prairie,  as  the  British  called 
the  place.  British  agents  had  made  the  place  their  headquarters  and 
had  boasted  that  the  Big  Knives  would  not  dare  venture  to  this  post 
on  the  upper  Mississippi.  One  Robert  Dickson,  a  red-haired  Scot 
who  was  especially  zealous  in  heralding  Britsh  supremacy,  fled  as 
the  Americans  approached,  and  carried  the  news  to  the  command- 
ing oflBcer  at  Michilimackinac. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  145- 

There  were  some  American  sympathizers  at  the  Prairie  who 
heartily  welcomed  Lieut.  Perkins  and  his  men.  Two  of  them  issued 
an  address  urging  the  inhabitans  to  show  their  friendship  for  the 
Americans.  The  report  made  by  Dickson  was  that  they  had  issued 
"two  flaming  Epistles  to  the  people  of  the  prairie,  exhorting  them  to 
claim  the  protection  of  the  great  republic  before  it  is  too  late  &  a 
great  deal  of  other  stuff." 

The  Americans  lost  no  time  in  erecting  suitable  fortifications  in 
anticipation  of  an  attack.  A  commanding  eminence  was  selected, 
and  soon  the  American  flag  floated  in  Wisconsin  for  the  first  time  in 
its  history.  The  stockade  was  named  Fort  Shelby,  in  honor  of  Ken- 
tucky's first  governor,  Isaac  Shelby.  It  was  afterwards  charged  by 
the  British  that  the  Americans  were  guilty  of  gross  treachery 
towards  a  party  of  Winnebagoes  on  taking  possession  of  Prairie  du 
Chien.  According  to  their  account  seven  Indians  of  this  tribe  were 
wantonly  butchered  while  eating  a  meal  set  before  them  by  their 
captors.  Afterward  they  cajoled  four  others  within  a  log  house  and 
shot  them  through  the  openings  between  the  logs. 

Fort  Shelby  was  placed  in  good  condition  for  defense  and  for 
additional  security  the  gunboat  was  anchored  in  midstream  just  in 
front  of  the  fort,  the  ominous  iron  throats  of  a  half  dozen  cannon 
being  visible  from  shore. 

The  British  prepared  for  effective  measures  when  Dickson,  tlie 
trader,  brought  them  word  of  the  American  occupation  of  Prairiy 
du  Ohien.  While  he  went  among  his  Indian  friends  to  raise  a 
large  force,  companies  of  regulars  and  volunteers  were  being  drilled 
at  Michilimackinac  and  Green  Bay  for  an  attack  on  Fort  Shelby. 
Lieut.  Col.  W.  McKay  was  placed  at  their  head.  Dickson  possessed 
unbounded  influence  over  the  Indians.  He  had  married  a  sister  of 
Red  Thunder,  a  Dakota  chief,  and  had  on  numerous  occasions  given 
the  Indians  great  quantities  of  traders'  supplies  and  provisions  antl 
thus  won  their  friendship.  The  name  of  Red  Head,  as  they  termed 
him,  was  familiar  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  headwaters  of  the 
Mississippi  river.  He  found  no  difficulty  in  raising  a  large  force  of 
warriors,  and  wintered  at  Garlic  island,  pending  the  arrival  of 
McKay's  force. 

With  a  parting  British  cheer,  the  boats  containing  the  attacking 
expedition  left  Michilimackinac  June  28,  1814,  and  soon  reached 
Green  Bay.  The  party  that  pulled  up  the  Fox  in  bateaux  comprised 
several  companies  of  Canadian  volunteers  and  one  of  regulars.  The 
company  of  volunteers  from  Green  Bay  was  made  up  of  the  follow- 
ing men: 

Sergeant — Laurent  Filey. 

Corporal — Amable    Grignon. 

Privates — Joseph  Courvalle,  Labonne  Dorion,  Alexis  Crochier,  Joseph 
Deneau,  Narcisse  Delaune,  Pierre  Chalifou,  Jean  B.  Latouch,  Pierre  L'Allement, 
Etienne  Bantiere,  Francis  Freniere,  Pierre  Grignon,  Jr.,   Pierre  Ochu. 


146 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  Historii. 


Joseph  Rolette,  a  well-known  trader  from  Prairie  du  Chien,  and 
Thomas  G.  Anderson  accompanied  the  expedition  in  command  of 
the  volunteers.    At  the  Portage,  Dickson's  painted  rabble  of  five  or 


Lewis  Cass. 


(One  of  the  heroic  figures  in  the  early  territorial  history  of  Wisconsin  was 
Lewis  Cass.  Some  of  the  most  important  Indian  treaties,  at  Prairie  du  Chien, 
Green  Bay  and  elsewhere,  were  negotiated  by  him.  In  1820  he  undertook  an 
important  expedition  through  Wisconsin  to  ascertain  its  resources.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft,  who  wrote  an  interesting  account  of  the 
journey  and  its  results.  The  canoe  trip  Governor  Cass  made  to  St.  Louis  and 
back,  to  obtain  military  assistance  when  Wisconsin  was  threatened  with  the 
horrors  of  a  general  Indian  outbreak,  was  a  memorable  one.  He  traveled  1,S00 
miles  with  great  celerity,  and  his  promptness  undoubtedly  prevented  the  war 
from  assuming  great  proportions.  Governor  Cass,  while  minister  to  France, 
obtained  copies  of  manuscripts  which  have  done  much  to  illuminate  the  history 
of  Wisconsin  and  the  Northwest  during  the  French  period.) 

six  hundred  Indians  joined  the  Michigan  Fencibles  and  Mississippi 
Volunteers,  as  the  companies  were  called.  The  Indians  were  much 
impressed  with  the  appearance  of  a  brass  six-pounder  whose  mouth 


The  Story  of  the  State.  147 

yawned  from  the  prow  of  one  of  the  bateaux.  A  bombardier  of  the 
Royal  artillery  was  in  charge. 

It  was  a  pleasant  Sunday  morning  at  about  10  o'clock  (July  17) 
when  the  red  coats  of  the  regulars,  the  gaudy  tasseled  caps  of  the 
Canadians  and  the  paint-bedaubed  savage  stragglers  were  espied 
from  the  fort.  Thei'e  was  great  commotion,  for  their  appearance 
was  unexpected.  The  officers  of  the  garrison  were  about  to  depart 
on  a  pleasure  drive,  and  the  villagers  were  engaged  in  their  cus- 
tomary peaceful  avocations.  Some  of  these  latter  made  haste  to  seek 
shelter  in  the  fort,  while  others  fled  for  the  country.  Having  pitched 
camp,  the  British  prepared  for  sterner  business.  Capt.  Thomas  An- 
derson advanced  toward  the  blockhouses,  waving  a  flag  of  truce.  He 
stopped  in  front  of  the  strong  oaken  pickets,  ten  feet  high,  which 
enclosed  the  fort,  and  delivered  the  following  message  from  Lieut.- 
Col.  McKay,  addressed  to  Lieut.  Perkins: 

"Sir — An  hour  after  the  receipt  of  this,  surrender  to  His 
Majesty's  forces  unconditionally,  otherwise  I  order  you  to  defend 
yourself  to  the  last  man.  The  humanity  of  a  British  officer  obliges 
me  (in  case  you  should  be  obstinate)  to  request  you  will  send  out 
of  the  way  your  women  and  children." 

The  American  commander  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  Without 
hesitation  he  sent  back  this  curt  reply: 

"Sir — I  received  your  polite  note  and  prefer  the  latter,  and  am 
determined  to  defend  to  the  last  man." 

The  deflant  answer  was  the  signal  for  the  commencement  of 
hostilities.  The  brass  six  pounder  was  trained  on  the  American  gun- 
boat in  the  river,  while  the  Indians  and  the  Michigan  Fencibles 
opened  a  brisk  flre  on  the  fort.  Sheltered  by  the  buildings  of  the 
village,  the  savages  were  able  to  annoy  the  garrison  considerably, 
their  shots  cutting  down  the  flag  and  wounding  a  couple  of  the  men 
with  bullets  that  sped  through  the  port-holes.  The  firing  from  the 
fort  did  little  damage. 

On  the  second  day  the  bombardier  again  played  his  shot  against 
the  side  of  the  gunboat.  The  garrison  within  the  fort  were  filled 
with  consternation  when  they  observed  the  gunboat's  cables  were 
cut  and  that  the  boat  was  rapidly  drifting  away.  It  finally  dis- 
appeared behind  an  island,  with  a  flotilla  of  canoes  filled  with 
Indians  in  hot  pursuit.  The  pursuers  were  joined  by  some  of  the 
Canadians  and  gave  chase  till  the  gunboat  reached  Rock  Island, 
where  reinforcements  were  met.  The  Americans,  overestimating 
the  force  of  the  British,  returned  down  stream  and  left  Prairie  du 
Chien  and  its  garrison   to   take  care  of  themselves. 

Had  Lieut.  Perkins  realized  in  what  straits  the  British  were  for 
ammunition,  the  desertion  of  the  men  on  the  gunboat  would  doubt- 
less not  have  discouraged  him.  The  personal  narrative  of  Capt. 
Anderson  portrays  the  situation  on  the  third  day: 


148  Leading  Ecoits  of  Wisconsin   History. 

"Our  cannon  shot  were  nearly  all  gone.  So  I  got  a  quantity 
of  lead  from  the  village  and  with  a  couple  of  brick  made  a  mould 
and  cast  a  number  of  three-pound  leaden  balls.  Meanwhile  the 
Indians  were  bringing  in  balls  which  the  Americans  had  by  their 
short  shots  scattered  about  the  prairie  without  effect.  Our  stores  of 
provisions  were  getting  low,  our  ammunition  exhausted." 

Reduced  to  this  strait,  the  British  commander  decided  to  send 
red-hot  shot  into  the  fort  with  a  view  of  setting  it  on  fire.  The  gun 
was  mounted  within  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  the  oaken  pickets, 
and  the  balls  were  heated  in  readiness  to  throw  into  the  fort.  At 
this  juncture  a  white  fiag  was  displayed  by  the  Americans,  and  the 
following  message  came: 

"Sir — I  am  willing  to  surrender  the  garrison  provided  you  will 
save  and  protect  the  officers  and  men,  and  prevent  the  Indians  from 
ill-treating  them." 

Lieut.-Col.  McKay  feared  that  if  he  accepted  unconditional  sur- 
render his  Indian  allies  would  massacre  the  entire  garrison.  They 
had  chafed  over  the  delay  and  were  eager  to  take  scalps.  Prompted 
by  motives  of  humanity  he  sent  back  word  that  he  would  prefer 
to  have  the  Americans  remain  in  the  fort  till  8  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  when  he  would  allow  them  to  march  out  with  the  honors 
of  war.  Despite  the  vehement  protests  of  the  Indian  allies,  the 
humane  Briton  gave  back  to  the  Americans  their  weapons  and  a 
supply  of  ammunition,  and  permitted  them  to  depart  for  St.  Louis. 
The  savages  looted  the  houses  in  the  village,  but  secured  no  scalps. 
The  casualties  on  both  sides,  as  shown  by  the  reports  of  Col.  McKay, 
were  ludicrously  few  considering  the  amount  of  bullets  and  powder 
that  had  been  consumed.  None  of  the  British  were  killed,  and  but 
few  of  their  red  allies  were  wounded.  In  the  attack  on  the  gunboat 
five  Americans  lost  their  lives  and  ten  were  wounded.  Three 
soldiers  within  the  fort  were  hit  by  bullets,  but  there  were  no 
fatalities. 

Col.  McKay  did  not  remain  long  at  the  fort.  He  rechristened 
it  Fort  McKay  in  honor  of  himself,  and  a  month  later  made  his 
way  back  to  Michilimackinac,  leaving  Capt.  Anderson  in  command. 
Not  long  after  Capt.  A.  H.  Bulger,  of  the  Royal  Newfoundland 
regiment,  was  sent  to  take  command.  Capt.  Bulger  fared  but  ill. 
The  Indians  were  clamoring  for  supplies,  for  the  war  had  engaged 
their  time  to  such  an  extent  that  they  had  raised  no  corn  for  food, 
and  they  were  without  ammunition  for  the  chase.  Starvation 
threatened  them. 

"A  vast  concourse  of  Indians  of  different  tribes  were  assembled 
at  this  place  when  I  arrived,  and  it  was  really  a  most  distressing 
sight;  men,  women  and  children  naked  and  in  a  state  of  starvation," 
Capt.  Bulger  wrote  to  headquarters.  "Many  of  them  had  been 
from    home    all    the    summer    fighting    for    us,    and    now,    on    the 


The  Story  of  the  State.  14rf 

approach  of  winter,  to  see  them  suffering  all  the  horrors  of  want, 
without  the  power  to  relieve  them,  was  distressing  in  the  extreme." 

Despite  Capt.  Bulger's  urgent  demand  for  provisions  and  gun- 
powder, these  supplies  came  but  grudgingly  and  in  insufficient 
quantities,  and  the  Indians  grew  daily  more  numerous  and  more 
clamorous. 

Other  troubles  beset  Capt.  Bulger.  The  erratic  trader  Dickson 
grew  restless  under  the  strict  discipline  enforced  by  the  captain, 
and  found  means  to  annoy  him  in  numerous  ways. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  (1814),  a  mutiny  broke  out  among 
the  Michigan  Fencibles.  Capt.  Bulger  had  gone  to  Ft.  McKay 
suffering  from  a  wound  in  the  breast,  and  the  arduous  trip  in  an 
open  boat  had  greatly  impaired  his  health.  He  had  therefore  dele- 
gated the  drilling  of  men  to  subordinates.  The  Fencibles  grew 
exceedingly  disorderly,  and  when  on  parade  took  turns  in  laughing 
and  swearing  at  the  sergeant  major.  Capt.  Bulger  gave  orders  to 
confine  the  next  man  guilty  of  talking  or  laughing  under  arms. 

Soon  matters  came  to  a  crisis.  One  of  the  Fencibles  paid  no 
attention  to  commands  and  when  he  was  about  to  be  taken  to  the 
guard  house,  resisted.  His  companions  came  to  the  rescue,  and 
took  the  offender  to  the  barrack  room. 

"Who  will  dare  come  and  take  him?"  they  cried,  and  with 
drawn  bayonets  and  knives  stationed  themselves  at  the  door  of  the 
barrack  room  and  swore  to  kill  the  first  man  making  the  attempt. 

Capt.  Bulger  acted  with  great  promptness  and  decision.  The 
long  roll  beat  for  the  garrison  to  fall  in,  and  the  captain  declared 
martial  law  and  summoned  a  drum-head  court-martial.  The 
offender  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  be  tied  to  a  gun  and 
flogged.  Other  leaders  of  the  mutiny  were  confined  in  a  cell  on 
bread  and  water.  A  garrison  court-martial  was  assembled  to  try 
two  men  of  the  guard  who  had  refused  to  arrest  the  culprit  when 
ordered.  The  sentence  of  300  lashes  each  was  reduced  by  Capt. 
Bulger  to  half  the  number,  the  punishment  being  inflicted  in 
presence  of  all  the  troops  and  militia.  To  guard  against  desertion, 
Capt.  Bulger  directed  the  Indians  to  bring  in  the  head  of  the  flrst 
man  attempting  to  leave. 

Rumors  of  an  expedition  to  recapture  Fort  McKay  came  from 
below,  and  as  the  garrison  lacked  both  provisions  and  gun-powder, 
Capt.  Bulger  determined  to  go  to  Green  Bay  after  some.  The  follow- 
ing proclamation  which  he  issued  to  the  traders  and  inhabitants  of 
the  settlement  would  indicate  that  the  creole  population  were 
strongly  inclined  to  mix  commercial  thrift  with  patriotism. 

"To  the  Traders  and  Inhabitants  of  the  Settlement  of  Green 
Bay: 

"You  have  now  an  opportunity  of  testifying  to  the  world  whether 
you  are  sincere  in  your  professions  of  loyalty  and  attachment  to 


150  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

his  Majesty's  government.  I  understand  that  there  is  still  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  wheat,  as  well  as  ammunition,  in  this  place,  and 
I  have  heard  that  some  of  you  intend  to  hoard  up  those  articles  in 
hopes  of  obtaining  an  exorbitant  price  for  them.  This  is  ungen- 
erous, ungrateful  to  that  government  which  protects  you.  ...  I 
do  not  like  your  charging  5  and  6  dollars  a  pound  for  your  powder, 
it  does  not  look  well.  Such  an  exorbitant  demand  will  stagger  the 
confidence  of  government,  and  will  make  it  be  believed  that  you 
wish  to  impose  and  extort.  I  know  that  the  powder  did  not  cost  you 
more  than  2  dollars  and  a  half  at  Mackinac  and  you  ought  to  be 
satisfied  to  receive  4  dollars  a  pound  for  it,"  etc. 

By  dint  of  persuasion  and  threats  Capt.  Bulger  secured  some 
supplies  and  returned  to  Foi*t  McKay.  News  of  the  treaty  of  peace 
did  not  reach  the  garrison  until  May,  1815,  although  the  articles  had 
been  signed  at  Ghent  five  months  before  (Dec.  24,  1814.)  Five 
weeks  before  the  intelligence  reached  him,  Capt.  Bulger  was  busy- 
ing himself  with  the  task  of  keeping  his  Indian  allies  in  line.  On  the 
18th  of  April  a  council  was  held.  At  this  council  many  noted  chiefs 
were  present.  Among  those  who  declared  undying  hatred  of  the 
American  Big  Knives  was  Black  Hawk,  the  Sac  chieftain  who 
seventeen  years  later  led  his  band  to  destruction.  The  French 
called  him  L'Epervier  Noir.    Taking  a  war  belt  in  his  hand,  he  said: 

"My  Father!  You  see  this  belt?  When  my  great  father  at 
Quebec  gave  it  to  me,  he  told  me  to  be  friends  with  all  his  red 
children,  to  form  but  one  body,  to  preserve  our  lands  and  to  make 
war  against  the  Big  Knives  who  want  to  destroy  us  all.  My  Great 
Father  said:  'Take  courage,  my  children;  hold  tight  your  war  club, 
and  destroy  the  Big  Knives  as  much  as  you  can.  If  the  master  of 
life  favors  us,  you  shall  again  find  your  lands  as  they  formerly 
were.  Your  lands  shall  again  be  green  and  the  sky  blue.  When 
your  lands  change  color,  you  shall  also  change.'  This,  my  father, 
is  the  reason  why  we  Sacs  hold  this  war  club  tight  in  our  hands, 
and  will  not  let  it  go. 

"My  Father! — I  now  see  the  time  drawing  nigh  when  we  shall 
all  change  color;  but,  my  father,  our  lands  have  not  yet  changed 
color.  They  are  red — the  water  is  red  with  our  blood,  and  the  sky 
is  clouded.  I  have  fought  the  Big  Knives,  and  will  continue  to 
fight  them  till  they  are  off  our  lands.  Till  then,  my  father,  your 
red  children  cannot  be  happy." 

Doubtless  the  message  conveying  the  news  that  peace  had  been 
declared  proved  welcome  to  Capt.  Bulger,  but  it  placed  him  in  a  try- 
ing position.  Only  a  short  time  before  he  had  used  all  his  power  to 
influence  the  Indians  against  the  Big  Knives.  These  had  gone  into 
the  war  on  the  promise  that  their  lands  which  the  Americans  had 
taken  were  to  be  restored.  Now  Capt.  Bulger  was  expected  to  instill 
pacific    sentiments   into    the   minds    of   the   Indians,    though    their 


The  Story  of  the  State.  151 


demands  remained  unsatisfied.  His  orders  were  to  give  up  the  post 
to  the  American  government,  and  he  received  a  letter  from  Gov. 
Clark  of  Missouri,  asking  him  not  to  evacuate  the  fort  until  the 
arrival  of  the  Americans.  Capt.  Bulger  concluded,  instead,  to  leave 
at  once.  According  to  his  official  report,  "great  ferment  and  dis- 
content existed  among  the  Indians  in  consequence  of  the  report  of 
peace."  He  wrote  to  Gov.  Clark  at  St.  Louis  that  "the  presence  of  a 
detachment  of  British  and  United  States  troops  at  the  same  time, 
at  Fort  McKay,  would  be  the  means  of  embroiling  one  party  or  the 
other  in  a  fresh  rupture  with  the  Indians." 

It  appears  from  subsequent  correspondence  that  Capt.  Bulger 
feared  to  prolong  his  stay  lest  he  might  hazard  the  lives  of  his  men. 
The  Indians  were  beginning  to  gather  at  the  Prairie  in  great  num- 
bers; the  trader,  Dickson,  was  intriguing  to  undermine  the  com- 
mander's authority.  Capt.  Graham,  one  of  Capt.  Bulger's  officers, 
was  so  affected  by  Dickson's  instigations  as  to  speak  disrespectfully 
to  his  superior  officer.  He  was  ordered  into  close  arrest.  The 
situation  was  extremely  critical,  for  the  Indians  were  angry  and 
sullen.  Every  precaution  against  treachery  was  taken.  When  Capt. 
Bulger  went  to  the  council  house  outside  of  the  fort  to  meet  the 
Indian  chiefs,  he  told  the  troops  that  he  might  never  return;  in  that 
event  they  knew  what  he  expected  them  to  do.  It  was  agreed  that 
if  treachery  were  attempted,  the  flag  over  the  council  house  would 
be  lowered.  This  was  to  be  the  signal  for  turning  the  guns  of  the 
fort  upon  the  Indians. 

Fortunately,  treachery  was  not  attempted.  The  council  was 
conducted  with  great  solemnity.  Seventy  chiefs  and  warriors 
were  gravely  seated  on  the  ground  so  as  to  form  three  sides  of  a 
hollow  square.  The  wampun  belt  which  in  1812  had  summoned 
the  tribes  to  war  was  placed  on  the  ground  where  all  could  see  it; 
then  it  had  been  red,  denoting  war;  now  it  was  blue,  symbolic 
of  peace.  After  the  elaborate  ceremonials,  the  interpreter  read  the 
treaty  of  peace,  article  by  article.  The  British  commander,  on  con- 
clusion of  the  reading,  took  a  tastefully  ornamented  calumet,  and 
after  a  few  wreaths  of  smoke  had  curled  upwards,  passed  it  to  an 
Indian  chief.  The  peace  pipe  passed  from  hand  to  hand.  The 
reverberation  of  nineteen  guns  fired  from  the  fort  to  announce 
that  the  war  had  terminated  came  to  the  ears  of  the  assembled 
chiefs.    They  accepted  the  signal,  and  the  war  was  at  an  end. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1815,  the  union  jack  disappeared  from  the 
flagstaff  of  Fort  McKay.  Thus  ended  foreign  domination  on  Wis- 
consin soil.  For  ninety  years  the  fleur-de-lis  of  France  was  the 
emblem  of  sovereignty  in  Wisconsin;  during  the  next  half  centur.v 
British  red-coats  ruled  the  stockades  at  the  extremes  of  its  bound- 
aries. In  the  j^ear  of  its  semi-centennial,  Wisconsin  will  have  been 
American  soil,  nominally,  115  years;  in  fact,  eighty-three  years. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

YANKEE    FUR    TRADERS    IN    WISCONSIN. 

Cj.ose  upon  the  heels  of  the  American  soldiers  who  occupied  the 
Wisconsin  forts,  upon  conclusion  of  the  war  of  1812,  came 
sagacious  Yankee  traders.  Obstacles  were  encountered  which  even 
their  keen  instinct  for  driving  a  shrewd  bargain  was  powerless 
to  overcome.  In  1816  Maj.  Morgan's  four  companies  of  riflemen  left 
St.  Louis  for  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  in  the  month  of  June 
erected  a  fort  where  they  found  the  ruins  of  Fort  McKay.  William 
H.  Crawford  was  then  secretary  of  the  treasury  in  the  cabinet  of 
President  Monroe,  and  his  name  was  given  to  the  cluster  of  block 
houses.  In  July  Col.  John  Miller  and  his  regiment  of  infantry 
arrived  at  Green  Bay  and  built  Fort  Howard,  so  named  in  honor 
of  Gen.  Benjamin  Howard. 

The  occupation  of  these  posts  was  designed  to  effect  the 
expulsion  of  the  British  fur-traders,  whose  machinations  among  the 
Indian  hunters  had  caused  the  young  republic  much  trouble.  The 
factors  whom  the  government  placed  in  charge  were  unable  to  com- 
pete with  the  British  agents,  whose  goods  were  better  and  cheaper, 
and  the  government  trading  posts  proved  unprofitable.  It  was 
finally  concluded  to  leave  the  fur  trade  to  private  enterprise. 

Chiefly  through  the  influence  of  John  Jacob  Astor  the  govern- 
ment was  induced  to  pass  an  act  excluding  foreigners  from  partici- 
pation in  the  fur  trade.  Astor  had  several  years  before  this 
attempted  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  fur  country,  but  British  influ- 
ences were  too  strong.  His  celebrated  Astoria  expedition  passed 
through  Wisconsin  in  1809,  in  charge  of  Hunt  and  Crooks.  Astor 
controlled  the  Southwest  company,  which  was  merged  with  his 
American  Fur  company,  headquarters  being  established  at  Mack- 
inaw. It. was  here  that  furs  were  received  from  Green  Bay  and 
Prairie  du  Chien  and  packed  to  New  York.  The  former  was  the 
depot  of  the  traders  whose  operations  extended  along  the  Fox 
and  upper  Wisconsin.  Prairie  du  Chien  was  a  still  more  important 
mart,  being  considered  neutral  territory  by  the  Indians.  Members 
of  hostile  tribes  never  harmed  each  other  if  they  met  here,  though 
the  truce  terminated  if  they  chanced  upon  each  other  beyond  its 
limits. 

With  all  his  sagacity,  Astor  found  many  diflficulties  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  fur  trade.  The  British  traders  were  unwilling 
to  yield  the  rich  fur  country  to  the  Americans,  and  evaded  the 
inhibition  against  foreigners  by  taking  out  licenses  in  the  names 
of  American  clerks  employed  by  them.  The  Indian  trade  required 
guns  and  blankets  of  a  good  quality,  then  obtainable  only  in  Eng- 

152 


The  Story  of  the  State.  .  153 


land.  Astor  was  unable  to  get  them  and  his  Inferior  articles 
enabled  the  British  traders  to  successfully  inspire  the  Indians  with 
contempt  for  the  Americans  and  their  goods.  Aster's  guns  were 
made  in  Holland  in  imitation  of  those  supplied  by  the  British.  It 
did  not  take  the  Indians  long  to  ascertain  their  spurious  character. 
The  Indian  is  improvident,  but  he  is  keen  enough  at  a  bargain. 
The  factor  found  his  match  when  he  tried  to  barter  his  com- 
modities for  peltries.  An  anecdote  told  of  Joseph  Rolette,  a  famous 
trader  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  well  illustrates  the  point.  A  lady  who 
visited  Prairie  du  Chien  in  the  early  days  of  the  territory  remarked 
to  him: 


Ebenezer  Brigham. 
(During  the  Black  Hawk  war  the  Brigham  place  near  Blue  Mounds  was  a 
rendezvous  for  the  settlers  of  the  neighborhood.  Ebenezer  Brigham  was  the  first 
permanent  settler  in  Dane  Countj-.  He  came  to  Wisconsin  seventy  years  ago ; 
was  a  member  of  the  Territorial  Council  from  1836  toi  1841,  and  member  of  the 
Assembly  the  year  Wisconsin  became  a  State.) 

"Oh,  Mr.  Rolette,  I  would  not  be  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade; 
it  seeems  to  me  a  system  of  cheating  the  poor  Indians." 

"Let  me  tell  you,  madame,"  replied  he  with  great  naivete,  "it 
is  not  so  easy  to  cheat  the  Indians  as  you  imagine.  I  have  tried 
it  these  twenty  years,  and  have  never  succeeded." 

Necessity  compelled  the  government  to  modify  its  orders  re- 
ative  to  the  exclusion  of  foreigners,  licenses  being  issued  to  boat- 
men and  interpreters  who  were  able  to  funiiSh  bonds  for  good 
behavior  in  the  Indian  country.  Thus  a  large  number  of  French 
Creoles  entered  the  employ  of  the  American  Fur  company.  The  fol- 
lov/ing  spring  (1817)  the  company  brought  to  the  fur  country  a 
larg3  number  of  American  clerks,  but  more  than  half  of  them  proved 
so  Inefficient  that  they  were  discharged  at  Mackinaw. 


154  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

The  great  depot  of  the  Indian  trade  at  this  period  was  Macki- 
naw. It  was  from  this  place  that  outfits  were  sent  as  far  west  as 
the  head  waters  of  the  Missouri  river.  For  this  trade,  and  that  of 
the  Mississippi,  the  boats  went  by  way  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin 
rivers.  At  little  Kaukalin  and  at  the  famous  Fox- Wisconsin  portage 
the  goods  had  to  be  transported  by  team,  while  the  empty  boats 
were  taken  up  or  down  the  rapids  by  the  voyageurs.  Augustin 
Grignon  furnished  the  teams  for  this  purpose  at  the  former  carry- 
ing place,  and  charged  20  cents  per  hundred  pounds.  At  the  Fox- 
Wisconsin  portage,  the  charge  was  40  cents  per  hundred  pounds,  and 
$10  for  each  boat. 

At  Prairie  du  Chien  a  stop  was  usually  made  for  a  season  of 
convivial  pleasure.  It  was  an  unwritten  code  of  those  old  fur- 
trading  days  that  on  such  occasions  every  trader  must  broach  a 
keg  of  excellent  wine.  When  the  traders  met  here  in  the  spring, 
they  would  feast  right  royally.  They  gave  great  dinner  parties, 
and  carousal  was  the  order  of  the  day. 

An  account  of  the  early  days  at  the  posts  from  the  pen  of  an 
eye-witness  gives  this  picturesque  view  of  frontier  society,  as  it 
then  existed:  "The  traders  and  their  clerks  were  then  the  aristoc- 
racy of  the  country;  and  to  a  Yankee  at  first  sight  presented  a 
singular  state  of  society.  To  see  gentlemen  selecting  wives  of  the 
nut-brown  natives,  and  raising  children  of  mixed  blood,  the  traders 
and  clerks  living  in  as  much  luxury  as  the  resources  of  the  country 
would  admit,  and  the  engages  or  boatmen  living  upon  soup  made  of 
hulled  corn,  with  barely  enough  tallow  to  season  it,  devoid  of  salt 
unless  they  purchased  it  themselves  at  a  high  price — all  this  to  an 
American  was  a  novel  mode  of  living.  The  traders  in  this  country 
were  a  singular  compound;  they  were  honest  so  far  as  they  gave 
their  word  of  honor  to  be  relied  upon,  and  in  their  business  trans- 
actions between  themselves  seldom  gave  or  took  notes  for  balances 
or  assumptions.  It  rarely  happened  that  one  of  them  was  found 
who  did  not  fulfill  his  promises;  but  when  trading  in  the  Indian 
country,  any  advantage  that  could  be  taken  of  each  other  in  a 
transaction  was  not  only  considered  lawful — such  as  trading  each 
other's  credit — but  an  indication  of  tact  and  cleverness  in  business. 
Two  traders  having  spent  the  winter  in  the  same  neighborhood  and 
thus  taken  every  advantage  they  could  of  each  other,  would  meet 
in  the  spring  at  Prairie  du  Chien  and  amicably  settle  all  diflBculties 
over  a  glass  of  wine." 

Most  of  the  women  at  Prairie  du  Chien  were  the  daughters  of 
Indian  traders.  Their  favorite  beverage  was  tea,  and  despite  its 
excessive  cost,  they  would  forego  almost  anything  rather  than  miss 
a  cup  of  tea.  Prices  of  imported  commodities  were  somewhat  in- 
fluenced by  the  cost  of  home  products.  For  instance,  if  flour  sold 
at  $8  per  hundred  pounds,  hyson  or  young  hyson  tea  was  quoted  at 
$8  per  pound.    When  the  price  of  flour  fell  to  $6,  tea  would  take  a 


Tlie  Story  of  the  State.  155 


sympathic  tumble  to  the  same  figure.  The  ruling  prices  were  these: 
Onions,  $9  per  bushel;  eggs,  ?1  per  dozen;  soap,  $1  per  pound; 
calico,  $2  per  yard;  clay  pipes,  40  cents  apiece;  common  tobacco,  $2 
per  pound. 

The  poor  engages,  or  boatmen,  were  the  ones  most  affected  by 
the  high  prices,  for  they  had  nothing  to  exchange.  The  yearly  wage 
was  $83.33  and  an  equipment  of  two  cotton  shirts,  one  triangular 
blanket  and  a  pair  of  shoes.  For  the  pipes,  tobacco  and  any  other 
necessaries  which  the  engage  had  to  procure  in  the  Indian  country, 
he  was  compelled  to  pay  the  prices  the  traders  charged.  Most  of 
them  thus  became  heavily  involved  in  debt,  and  were  unable  to 
leave  the  country  because  the  only  means  of  transportation  to 
Montreal  was  in  the  boats  of  the  traders.  In  order  to  keep  these 
men  at  their  mercy,  the  traders  encouraged  them  to  run  into  debt. 

The  contracts  the  boatmen  were  required  to  sign  were  of  a  cast- 
iron  nature.  They  bound  themselves  "not  to  leave  the  duties 
assigned  them  by  their  employers  or  assigns  either  by  day  or 
night,  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  their  wages;  to  take  charge  of 
and  safely  keep  the  property  put  into  their  trust,  and  to  give  notice 
of  any  portending  evil  against  their  employers  or  their  interests 
that  should  come  to  their  knowledge." 

When  an  article  was  missed,  invariably  the  trader  charged  it 
to  the  account  of  the  engages,  at  a  good  round  price. 

The  method  adopted  by  Astor  to  monopolize  the  fur  trade  in  this 
region  was  as  effective  then  as  it  has  proved  in  more  recent  times 
in  other  branches  of  business.  If  some  venturesome  trader 
attempted  to  do  business,  the  company  would  establish  a  post  near 
by,  sell  goods  at  half  their  value,  and  when  the  opposition  trader 
had  been  driven  from  the  field,  prices  would  shoot  up  again.  One 
enterprising  trader,  a  former  clerk  in  the  employ  of  the  American 
Fur  company,  gave  the  company  much  trouble.  This  man,  William 
Farnsworth,  established  himself  at  Sheboygan,  and  the  usual  tactics 
of  the  company  failed  to  dislodge  him.  The  secret  of  his  success 
was  a  large  supply  of  ardent  spirits,  a  commodity  that  was  prohib- 
ited in  the  Indian  trade.  Finally,  the  company  hired  a  band  of 
Indians  to  seize  Farnsworth's  goods  and  whisky.  The  Indians  came 
to  the  house,  told  Farnsworth  they  were  brave  men,  and  could 
neither  be  bribed  nor  intimidated  in  the  execution  of  their  designs. 

"I  am  brave,  too,"  remarked  Farnsworth,  "and  I'll  prove  it  to 
you." 

As  he  spoke  he  rolled  a  barrel  filled  with  gunpowder  into  the 
center  of  the  room,  placed  it  on  end  and  knocked  out  the  head. 
Taking  a  lighted  candle  he  inserted  it  in  the  powder  so  that  the 
light  was  a  few  inches  above  the  powder,  then  complacently  seated 
himself  beside  the  keg  and  lit  his  pipe. 

It  was  more  than  the  Indians  had  bargained  for.  They  rushed 
out  of  the  house,  and  never  threatened  Farnsworth  after  that.    The 


156  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

American  Fur  company  likewise  abandoned  its  fruitless  efforts  to 
crush  him. 

For  many  years  the  agents  of  the  American  Fur  company 
practically  controlled  the  barter  in  furs  in  all  the  country  between 
Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi  river.  Among  their  well-known 
representatives  were  Ramsey  Crooks,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Astoria  expedition;  John  Lawe,  an  English  Jew  who  operated  in  the 
Green  Bay  region;  Augustin  Grignon,  grandson  of  the  famous 
Charles  Langlade.  The  posts  of  the  company,  advantageously 
located  at  meeting  places  and  commanding  sites,  punctuated  the 
water  courses  of  the  Wisconsin  region.  In  1821,  goods  valued  at 
$15,000  were  sent  by  the  company  to  its  Green  Bay  representatives. 
The  same  year  the  outfit  of  its  agent  at  Prairie  du  Chien  was 
valued  at  $25,000;  goods  valued  at  $11,000  were  sent  to  the  Lake 
Superior  country,  and  the  following  year  $19,000  represented  the 
value  of  the  outfits  sent  there.  About  2,000  Indian  hunters,  supplied 
with  guns  and  ammunition  at  these  scattered  posts,  brought  pel- 
tries to  the  factors  to  pay  for  the  advances  made  to  them.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  about  this  time  goods  for  the  Indian  trade 
brought  to  Wisconsin  annually  amounted  to  not  less  than  $75,000  in 
value. 

The  influence  of  the  fur  trade  has  been  well  described  by 
Frederick  J.  Turner  as  "closing  its  mission  by  becoming  the  path- 
finder for  agricultural  and  manufacturing  civilization,"  for  where 
the  posts  were  located,  the  leading  cities  of  the  state  have  since  been 
built.  "The  Indian  village  became  the  trading  post,  the  trading 
post  became  the  city.  The  trails  became  our  early  roads.  The 
portages  marked  out  the  locations  for  canals,  at  Portage  and  Stur- 
geon Bay;  while  the  Milwaukee  and  Rock  river  portages  inspired 
the  project  of  the  canal  of  that  name,  whioh  had  an  influence  on 
the  early  occupation  of  the  state.  The  trader  often  put  his  trading 
house  at  a  river  rapids,  where  the  Indian  had  to  portage  his  canoe, 
and  thus  found  the  location  of  our  water  powers." 

Among  the  cities  that  have  been  built  on  the  sites  of  the 
trading  stations  and  jack-knife  posts,  as  the  dependent  stations  were 
termed,  may  be  enumerated  Milwaukee,  La  Crosse,  Green  Bay, 
Prairie  du  Chien,  Manitowoc,  Sheboygan,  Eau  Claire,  Black  River 
Falls,  Hudson,  Racine,  Two  Rivers,  Kaukauna,  Peshtigo,  Oconto, 
Fond  du  Lac,  Oshkosh,  Chippewa  Falls,  Kewaunee,  Portage, 
Trempealeau,  Madison,  St.  Croix  Falls,  Shullsburg,  Rice  Lake, 
Cassville,  Menomonee. 

For  many  years  the  fur  trade  was  Wisconsin's  chief  source  of 
wealth.  It  continued  such  until  the  lead  mine  fever  in  Southwestern 
Wisconsin  developed  a  new  channel  of  industry  and  started  the  im- 
migration that  brought  thousands  of  settlers  to  the  territory. 


CHAPTER  V. 

RED    bird's    uprising. 

Different  tribes  of  Indians  gathered  at  Prairie  du  Chien  in  the 
summer  of  1825  for  a  grand  council,  to  make  a  general  and  lasting 
peace  and  to  settle  boundary  disputes.  The  representatives  of  the 
government  were  Lewis  Cass,  governor  of  the  territory,  and  Gen. 
Clark  of  Missouri. 

It  was  but  a  hollow  peace,  and  signs  were  soon  apparent  that  the 
Winnebagoes  meditated  trouble.  About  this  time  there  was  great 
excitement  in  the  lead  diggings  of  Southwestern  Wisconsin,  and 
prospectors  were  flocking  into  the  country  in  great  numbers,  coming 
principally  from  the  South.  Alarming  rumors  multiplied,  but  owing 
to  the  presence  of  troops  in  the  country,  it  was  not  believed  the 
Winnebagoes  would  dare  to  take  the  war  path.  Unfortunately,  an 
order  came  from  Washington  directing  the  garrison  at  Fort  Craw- 
ford to  abandon  the  old  fort  and  proceed  to  Fort  Snelling.  The 
commander  wasted  no  time  in  obeying  instructions,  leaving  a  brass 
swivel  and  some  damaged  arms  for  the  defense  of  the  place.  The 
Winnebagoes  supposed  that  the  departure  of  the  troops  was 
prompted  by  fear. 

An  event  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1827  that  greatly  alarmed  the 
people  of  Prairie  du  Chien.  During  the  maple  sugar  season,  one 
of  the  residents  named  Methode  set  up  his  sugar  camp  a  dozen  miles 
from  the  village,  on  the  banks  of  Yellow  creek.  Prolonged  absence 
of  himself  and  family  caused  some  of  his  friends  to  seek  his  camp, 
as  they  feared  illness  might  have  prevented  their  return.  Near  the 
mouth  of  the  stream  they  cam6  upon  the  body  of  his  dog,  riddled 
with  bullets.  Wihere  Methode  had  erected  his  rude  dwelling  of  logs 
and  boughs,  the  searchers  came  upon  a  mass  of  charred  cinder. 
The  five  children,  as  well  as  Methode  and  his  wife,  had  been  killed — 
shockingly  mangled — and  their  bodies  thrown  upon  the  blazing  pyre. 
Suspicion  pointed  to  a  Winnebago  hunting  party. 

When  the  American  garrison  evacuated  Fort  Crawford,  they 
took  with  them  to  Fort  Snelling  two  WinnebagO'  warriors,  detained 
as  prisoners  on  a  charge  of  theft.  It  began  to  be  rumored  among 
their  kinsmen  that  the  prisoners  had  been  compelled  to  i*un  the 
gauntlet  and  had  thus  lost  their  lives.  The  rumor  was  false,  but 
led  to  serious  consequences. 

There  was  just  enough  basis  for  the  story  to  make  trouble. 
During  the  latter  part  of  May,  1827,  Flat  Mouth's  band  of  Sandy 
Lake  Ojibwas  encamped  within  musket  shot  of  the  high  stone  walls 
of  the  fort.  Here  they  entertained  at  a  feast  of  meat  and  corn  and 
sugar  a  few  Dakota  Indians,  led  by  Toopunkah  Zeze.     The  latter, 

157 


158 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


after  smoking  the  peace  pipe,  rose  to  depart  and  treacherously  fired 
their  guns  at  their  hosts.  The  soldiers  pursued  the  assailants  and 
captured  some  of  them.  Two  of  the  Dakotas  were  turned  over  to 
the  Ojibwas  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  tribal  custom.  They  were 
given  a  fair  start  and  told  to  run  for  their  lives.  At  a  given  signal 
the  avengers  started  in  pursuit.     Fleet  as  the  fugitives  were,  they 


BLACK  HAWK  WAR   RELICS. 
IN  POSSESSION   OF   STATE   HISTORICAL,  SOCIETY. 

{The  uniform  worn  by  Henry  Dodge,  shown  in  the  group,  is  one  of  the  interest- 
ing relics  in  the  Museum  at  Madison.) 


could  not  escape  the  bullets  of  their  pursuers,  and  both  sank   to 
the  ground  riddled  with  bullets. 

Located  on  the  Wisconsin  side  of  the  Mississippi  river,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Trempealeau,  was  the  village  of  a  Winnebago  chief 
named  Red  Bird.  This  Indian  was  well-known  at  Prairie  du  Chien, 
and  was  regarded  as  friendly  to  the  whites.  One  night  runners 
came  to  his  wigwam  to  tell  him  that  the  two  Winnebagoes  at  Fort 


The  Story  of  the  State.  159 

Snelling  had  been  executed.  From  this  time  Red  Bird  was  the 
implacable  enemy  of  the  Americans.  He  at  ouce  prepared  for  ven- 
geance. The  law  of  the  tribe  was  that  for  every  life  taken,  two 
enemies  must  be  slain  before  vengeance  was  satisfied.  With  a  com- 
panion called  Wekau  (the  Sun)  he  paddled  down  stream  in  his 
canoe  till  he  came  to  Prairie  du  Chien.  After  entering  the  house 
of  Judge  Lockwood  and  frightening  the  women,  Red  Bird  and 
Wekau  repaired  to  the  house  of  a  farmer  named  Registre  Gagnier, 
brother  of  the  village  blacksmith.  Here  the  kettle  was  boiling  over 
the  fire,  and  the  hospitable  farmer  invited  the  two  Indians  to  join 
the  family  at  the  table.  With  murder  in  their  hearts  the  Winne- 
bagoes  partook  of  the  meal,  and  while  meditating  treachery  smoked 
the  pipe  of  peace  with  Gagnier.  At  an  auspicious  moment,  Red 
Bird  gave  a  signal  and  Gagnier  fell  dead  as  he  received  the  contents 
of  Red  Bird's  gun  in  his  breast.  An  old  soldier  named  Solomon 
Lipcap  was  hoeing  weeds  in  the  garden.  A  shot  ended  his  career, 
also.  Mrs.  Gagnier  seized  a  gun,  leveled  it  at  Wekau,  and  held 
him  at  bay  while  sihe  escaped  through  a  rear  window  with  her 
3-year-old  boy  tightly  clinging  to  her  back.  She  had  to  leave  her 
infant  daughter  behind.  This  child  Wekau  scalped  and  left  for  dead. 
Great  excitement  was  created  by  Mrs.  Gagnier's  startling  news 
when  she  reached  the  village.  A  rescue  party  at  once  hurried  to 
her  house,  only  to  find  the  mangled  bodies  of  Gagnier,  Lipcap  and 
the  little  girl.  The  latter  was  alive,  and  survived  her  terrible 
wounds.  She  grew  to  womanhood,  and  some  of  her  descendants  yet 
live  in  Prairie  du  Chien. 

The  alarm  created  by  the  savage  work  of  Red  Bird  and  Wekau 
was  intensified  when  two  keelboats  arrived  with  the  news  of  a 
fierce  attack  made  on  them  the  day  before  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Bad  Ax  river.  Aboard  were  three  dead  men  and  four  wounded  boat- 
men. The  sides  of  the  boats  were  honeycombed  with  bullet  perfora- 
tions, more  than  500  shots  having  penetrated  bow  and  sides.  These 
boats  had  but  a  short  time  before  left  Prairie  du  Chien  with  supplies 
for  the  garrison  at  Fort  Snelling.  On  their  way  up  Indians  had 
gone  aboard,  but  had  not  molested  the  crew.  When  the  keelboats 
returned,  war  yells  greeted  them  on  both  sides  of  the  stream,  but 
no  attack  was  made  till  they  reached  the  Bad  Ax.  On  an  island 
toward  which  the  boats  had  to  drift  in  making  the  channel  were 
gathered  some  of  Red  Bird's  warriors  engaged  in  the  war  dance 
over  the  three  scalps  brought  by  their  chieftain. 

There  was  a  strong  east  wind  that  carried  the  first  keelboat 
rapidly  towards  the  place  where  the  Indians  were.  Unsuspicious  of 
danger  the  steersman  had  lashed  his  steering  oar,  while  the  force  of 
the  sweeps  sent  the  craft  straight  to  the  point  of  ambush.  A  volley 
of  shots  and  the  accompaniment  of  war-whoops  apprised  the  boat- 
men of  the  danger,  and  they  threw  themselves  flat  upon  the  deck  to 
avoid  the  hail  of  bullets.     A  little  negro  boy  named  Peter  had  his 


160  Leadimg  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

leg  shattered,  but  managed  to  crawl  below.  Under  cover  of  the 
fusilade,  two  Indians  swam  to  the  boat,  mounted  the  roof  and  tried 
to  ground  the  vessel  on  a  sandbar.  One  of  them  was  peppered  at 
till  he  fell  into  the  rivei.  A  timely  bullet  hit  the  second  Indian, 
and  he  fell  into  the  boat.  By  this  time  the  keelboat  was  perilously 
near  the  sand  bank.  An  act  of  heroism  saved  the  crew  from  the 
destruction  that  seemed  inevitable. 

Observing  the  danger  and  realizing  the  necessity  for  prompt 
action  a  sailor  who  went  by  the  sobriquet  of  Saucy  Jack  leaped  to 
the  bow,  oar  in  hand,  and  moved  the  boat  off  into  the  current  of  the 
channel.  Bullets  whistled  by  his  ears,  but  he  kept  his  place  till 
his  pole  had  pushed  the  boat  afloat.  It  was  a  marvel  that  he  was 
not  riddled,  but  not  a  bullet  struck  the  brave  sailor. 

A  contemporary  summary  of  the  casualties  states  that  thirty- 
seven  Indians  were  engaged  in  this  fight,  of  whom  seven  were  killed 
and  twice  that  number  wounded.  Nearly  600  of  their  bullets  pene- 
trated the  boat.  But  six  of  the  crew  were  hit,  two  being  killed  out- 
right and  two  mortally  wounded.  But  for  the  courage  of  Jack 
Mandeville,  the  sailor,  doubtless  all  of  them  would  have  been 
massacred. 

The  second  keelboat  was  fired  upon,  but  its  crew  escaped  injury. 
The  arrival  of  the  boats  at  Prairie  du  Chien  threw  the  inhabitants 
into  a  panic.  The  old  fort  and  blockhouses  were  in  a  state  of  dis- 
repair, but  the  people  hastened  to  strengthen  the  defenses.  The  old 
wornout  muskets,  left  by  the  garrison,  were  turned  over  to  the 
blacksmiths  to  put  into  as  good  condition  as  possible,  while  men 
and  women  piled  a  bank  of  earth  around  the  rotton  logs  of  the  fort, 
and  filled  barrels  with  water  in  case  an  attempt  was  made  to  fire 
the  fort.  Ninety  men  and  women  capable  of  handling  a  musket 
were  drilled  for  emergencies,  and  were  divided  between  the  block- 
houses. By  sunset  all  the  families  had  removed  to  the  fort  with 
their  goods  and  chattels.  A  couple  of  couriers  were  dispatched  to 
Fort  Snelling  to  ask  for  help.  One  of  the  couriers  was  J.  B.  Loyer, 
an  old  voyageur.  He  was  furnished  with  a  horse  and  promised  550. 
His  companion,  Duncan  Graham,  was  also  given  a  horse  and  the 
promise  of  a  reward  of  $20. 

In  the  region  of  the  lead  diggings  the  alarm  was  greater  than  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  hostilities. 

"A  scene  of  the  most  alarming  and  disorderly  confusion  ensued," 
says  the  account  of  Col.  Daniel  M.  Parkinson,  an  eye-witness. 
"Alarm  and  consternation  were  depicted  in  every  countenance, 
thousands  fiocking  to  Galena  for  safety,  when  in  fact  it  was  the 
most  exposed  and  unsafe  place  in  the  whole  country.  All  were 
without  arms,  order  or  control.  The  roads  were  lined  in  all  direc- 
tions with  frantic  and  fleeing  men,  women  and  children,  expecting 
every  moment  to  be  overtaken,  tomahawked  and  scalped  by  the 
Indians.    It  was  said,  and  I  presume  with  truth,  that  the  encamp- 


The  Story  of  the  State.  161 


ment  of  fugitives  at  the  head  of  Apple  river,  on  the  first  night  of 
the  alarm,  was  four  miles  in  extent,  and  numbered  3,000  persons." 

At  this  time  Wisconsin  was  part  of  Michigan  territory,  and 
Lewis  Cass  was  governor.  Rumors  of  impending  trouble  having 
reached  the  governor,  he  made  the  trip  to  Prairie  du  C^ien  in  a 
canoe,  arriving  there  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  With  the  energy  that 
characterized  this  rugged  old  frontier  governor,  Cass  organized  a 
volunteer  company  for  the  emergency,  reentered  his  canoe  and  went 
on  to  Galena.  Thence  he  dispatched  another  force  to  the  assistance 
of  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  continued  on  to  St.  Louis  to  enlist  the  aid 
of  Gen.  Atkinson,  who  was  in  charge  of  Jefferson  barracks.  Atkin- 
son promptly  departed  for  the  upper  Mississippi. 

In  the  meantime.  Col.  Snelling  had  arrived  with  his  men  from 
the  Minnesota  country  and  Col.  Henry  Dodge  had  raised  a  volun- 
teer force  of  lead  miners  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country. 
These  volunteers  were  mounted,  and  while  they  scouted  along  the 
banks  of  the  Wisconsin  river.  Gen.  Atkinson's  force  ascended  in 
boats.  At  Green  Bay,  also,  word  had  been  received  of  the  difficul- 
ties below,  and  Maj.  Whistler  was  ascending  the  Fox  with  a 
volunteer  force  of  Oneida  and  Stockbridge  Indians.  Whistler's 
forces  encamped  on  a  high  bluff,  where  the  ensuing  year  Fort 
Winnebago  was  constructed. 

Ferreted  from  their  hiding  places  by  Dodge's  mounted  volun- 
teers, and  driven  before  them  in  frantic  endeavors  to  escape,  the 
Winnebagoes  found  themselves  hemmed  in  between  the  forces  of 
Whistler  and  Atkinson,  and  concluded  to  surrender.  At  midday  an 
Indian  came  to  Whistler's  camp  and  seated  himself  on  the  ground 
beside  one  of  the  tents.  Being  asked  the  purpose  of  his  coming,  he 
pointed  to  the  sky.  "Do  not  strike,"  he  said.  "When  the  sun  is 
there  to-morrow,"  looking  up  to  the  place  indicated  by  his  uplifted 
hand,  "they  will  come  in." 

"Who?" 

"Red  Bird  and  Wekau." 

Wrapping  his  blanket  around  him  the  Indian  departed  as  quietly 
as  he  had  come. 

The  incidents  connected  with  the  surrender  of  Red  Bird  are 
graphically  narrated  by  Col.  Thomas  L.  McKenney,  an  eye-witness. 
This  is  the  narrative  in  condensed  form:  "At  about  noon  of  the  day 
following  there  were  seen  descending  a  mound  on  the  Portage,  a 
body  of  Indians — some  were  mounted  and  some  were  on  foot.  Three 
flags  were  borne  by  them — ^two,  one  in  front  and  one  in  the  rear, 
were  American,  and  one  in  the  center  was  white.  They  bore  no 
arms.  On  a  sudden  we  heard  a  singing.  Those  who  were  familiar 
with  the  air  said:  'It  is  a  death  song.'  When  still  nearer  some 
present  who  knew  him  said:  'It  is  the  Red  Bird  singing  his  death 
song!' 


162  Leading  Events  of  Wincoiisin  History. 

"The  moment  a  halt  was  made  on  the  margin  of  the  river, 
preparatory  to  crossing  over,  two  scalp  yells  were  heard.  The 
Menomonees  and  other  Indians  who  had  accompanied  us  were  lying 
carelessly  about  on  the  ground,  regardless  of  what  was  going  on, 
but  whefi  the  scalp  yells  were  uttered  they  sprang  as  one  man  to 
their  feet,  seized  their  rifles  and  were  ready  for  battle.  They  were 
at  no  loss  to  know  that  the  yells  were  scalp  yells;  but  they  had  not 
heard  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  decide  whether  they  indicated 
scalps  to  be  taken  or  given,  but  doubtless  inferred  the  first. 

"Barges  were  sent  across  to  receive,  and  an  escort  of  military  to 
accompany  them  within  our  lines.  The  white  flag  which  had  been 
seen  in  the  distance  was  borne  by  the  Red  Bird.  In  the  lead  was 
Car-i-mi-nie    (Walking   Turtle),    a   distinguished    chief,   who    said: 


i^ 


Black  Sparrow  Hawk. 
From  a  Painting  in  Possession  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society. 
(While  Black  Hawk  was  a  prisoner  at  Fortress  Monroe,  R.  M.  Sully,  the  well- 
known  artist,   painted  his  portrait.     The  portrait  in  the  rooms  of  the   Historical 
Society  is  a  replica  of  the  original.) 

'They  are  here — ^like  braves  they  have  come  in — 'treat  them  as 
braves — do  not  put  them  in  irons.'  " 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  told  in  a  letter  to  secretary  of  War 
James  Barbour:  "All  eyes  were  fixed  on  Red  Bird,  and  well  they 
might  be — for  of  all  the  Indians  I  ever  saw,  he  is  without  exception 
the  most  perfect  in  form,  in  face  and  gesture.  In  height  he  is 
almost  six  feet,  straight,  but  without  restraint.  His  proportions  ape 
those  of  the  most  exact  symmetry. 

"His  face  was  painted — one  side  red,  the  other  intermixed  with 
green  and  white.  Around  his  neck  he  wore  a  collar  of  blue  wampum, 
beautifully  mixed  with  white,  which  was  sewn  on  to  a  piece  of  cloth, 
the  width  of  the  wampum  being  about  two  inches — whilst  the  claws 
of  the  panther,  or  wildcat,  distant  from  each  other  about  a  quarter 


The  Story  of  the  State.  163 


of  an  inch  with  their  points  inward,  formed  the  rim  of  the  collar. 
Around  his  neck  were  hanging  strands  of  wampum  of  various 
lengths,  the  circles  enlarging  as  they  descended.  He  was  clothed 
in  a  Yankton  dress — new  and  beautiful.  The  material  is  of  dressed 
elk  or  deerskin,  almost  a  pure  white.  Blue  beads  were  employed  to 
vary  and  enrich  the  fringe  of  the  leggings.  On  his  feet  he  wore 
moccasins. 

"A  piece  of  scarlet  cloth  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  yard  deep,  and 
double  that  width,  a  slit  being  cut  In  its  middle,  so  as  to  admit  the 
passing  through  of  his  head,  rested,  one-half  on  his  breast  beneath 
the  wampum  and  claws,  and  the  other  on  his  back.  On  one 
shoulder,  and  near  his  breast,  was  a  beautifully  ornamented  feather, 
nearly  black,  near  which  were  two  pieces  of  thinly-shaven  wood 
in  the  form  of  two  compasses,  a  little  open,  each  about  six  inches 
long,  richly  wrapped  around  with  poi'cupine's  quills,  dyed  yellow, 
red  and  blue.  On  the  tip  of  one  shoulder  was  a  tuft  of  horsehair, 
dyed  red  and  a  little  curled,  mixed  up  with  ornaments.  Across  the 
breast,  in  a  diagonal  position  and  bound  tight  to  it,  was  his  war- 
pipe,  at  least  two  feet  long,  brightly  ornamented  with  dyed  horse- 
hair, the  feathers  and  bills  of  birds.  In  one  of  his  hands  he  held 
the  white  flag,  and  in  the  other  the  calumet  or  pipe  of  peace." 

It  was  an  interesting  scene.  "There  he  stood.  Not  a  muscle 
moved,  nor  was  the  expression  of  his  face  changed  a  particle.  He 
appeared  to  be  conscious  that  according  to  Indian  law  and  measur- 
ing the  deed  he  had  committed  by  the  injustice  and  wrongs  and 
cruelties  of  the  white  man,  he  had  done  no  wrong.  The  law  which 
demanded  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  so  harmonized 
with  his  conscience  as  to  secure  its  repose.  As  to  death — he  had 
been  taught  to  despise  it.  His  white  jacket,  having  upon  it  but  a 
single  piece  of  red,  appeared  to  indicate  the  purity  of  his  past  life, 
which  had  been  stained  by  only  a  single  crime;  for  all  agree  that 
the  Red  Bird  had  never  before  soiled  his  fingers  with  the  blood 
of  the  white  man,  or  committed  a  bad  action.  His  war-pipe,  bound 
close  to  his  heart,  seemed  to  indicate  his  love  of  war,  in  common 
with  his  race,  which  was  no  longer  to  be  gratified." 

As  the  band  struck  up  a  hymn.  Red  Bird  sat  down  next  to  the 
miserable-looking  Wekau,  a  diminutive  and  misshapen  specimen 
of  ugly  humanity.  Taking  some  tobacco  from  an  otter-skin  pouch, 
he  filled  the  bowl  of  his  calumet  and  calmly  began  to  smoke.  His 
companions  then  addressed  the  military  oflicers,  saying  they  had 
surrendered  the  murderers  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  white  men, 
and  offered  twenty  horses  in  compensation  for  the  three  lives  that 
had  been  taken.  They  asked  that  their  kinsmen  might  not  be  put 
in  irons.    They  were  assured  their  request  would  be  granted. 

Red  Bird  next  stood  up  and  stepped  forward. 

"I  am  ready,"  he  said  simply.  Then  he  paused,  advanced  a  few 
steps  and  with  great  dignity  added:     "I  do  not  wish  to  be  put  in 


164 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  Historti. 


irons.  Let  me  be  free.  I  have  given  away  my  life — it  is  gone — 
like  that." 

He  stooped  as  he  spoke,  took  some  dust  between  his  tumb  and 
forefinger,  blew  it  into  the  air  and  watched  it  melt  from  sight. 

"It  is  gone — like  that,"  he  repeated.  He  paused  a  moment,  and 
added:     "I  would  not  take  it  back." 

To  show  that  he  left  all  things  behind  him  and  in  token  of 
submission.  Red  Bird  threw  his  hands  behind  his  back  and  marched 
up  to  Maj.  Whistler.  Escorted  by  a  file  of  men,  he  was  marched 
to  a  tent,  with  Wekau,  and  a  guard  was  set  over  him.  The  rest  of 
the  Winnebagoes  were  given  tobacco  and  provisions,  and  departed. 

When  Gen.  Atkinson's  troops  and  Col.  Dodge's  mounted  volun- 
teers came  to  the  portage,  the  prisoners  were  turned  over  to  them, 
and  taken  to  Prairie  du  Chien.  Here  Red  Bird  died  in  prison. 
Wekau  and  another  Indian  named  Chic-hon-sic  were  tried  for 
murder  and  convicted.  Preparations  were  made  to  hang  them  on 
the  26th  of  December.  On  Christmas  day  a  pardon  from  the  presi- 
dent reached  the  authorities.  President  Adams  had  signed  the 
pardon  Nov.  3. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  but  for  the  prompt  measures  taken  by 
Gov.  Lewis  Cass,  the  uprising  of  Red  Bird  and  his  people  would 
have  led  to  disastrous  consequences.  The  feeling  of  unrest  among 
the  Wisconsin  Indians  at  this  time  was  universal,  and  the  Potta- 
wattomies  were  on  the  point  of  joining  the  revolt.  Had  Gov.  Cass 
been  less  energetic,  doubtless  they  would  have  done  so,  and  a 
general  Indian  war  would  have  occurred  in  the  Northwest.  Gov. 
Casa  was  a  man  cast  in  heroic  mould.  When  he  heard  of  the 
threatened  outbreak  he  at  once  went  to  Green  Bay,  took  a  canoe 
v/ith  twelve  voyageurs,  ascended  the  Fox,  portaged  to  the  Wiscon- 
sin river,  went  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  thence  to  Galena  and  on  to  St. 
Louis.  It  was  a  hazardous  journey,  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles. 
Had  he  not  stirred  the  authorities  to  prompt  action  in  dispatching 
succor  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  no  doubt  all  of  its  inhabitants  would 
have  shared  the  fate  that  befell  the  occupants  of  the  isolated  farm- 
house visited  by  Red  Bird  on  his  mission  of  revenge. 


First  Norwegian  Church  in  Wisconsin. 
Muskego.   1844. 


CHAPTER  VL 

LIFE    IN    THE    DIGGINGS. 

With  the  keen  scent  of  birds  of  prey,  gam'blers  and  other 
adventurers  flocked  to  the  lead  diggings  of  Southwestern  Wisconsin 
during  the  great  mining  excitement  that  occurred  in  the  early  20's. 
As  was  the  case  later  in  California,  gambling  dens  and  grog  shops 
were  constructed  in  the  midst  of  the  cabins  of  the  miners,  and  the 
fruit  of  the  prospector's  thrift  often  went  into  the  coffers  of  the 
card  shark.  During  the  years  when  the  lead  mines  were  being 
developed  the  aggregation  of  cabins  that  dotted  the  region  were  the 
typical  frontier  camps  of  a  mineral  country,  with  their  swagger  and 
utter  disregard  of  any  law  but  their  own — prototypes  of  the  later 
gulch  towns  of  the  far  West.  Their  names  were  characteristic,  too, 
and  some  of  them  yet  retain  a  place  on  the  map  of  Wisconsin. 
Among  them  were  Hardscrabble  Diggings,  Buncome,  Snake  Hollow, 
Shake-the-Rag-Under-the-Hill,  Rattle  Snake  Diggings,  Big  Patch 
and  other  places  with  more  euphonious,  if  less  descriptive,  names. 

It  was  about  1822  that  the  so-called  discovery  of  the  lead 
diggings  in  Southwestern  Wisconsin  occurred.  For  nearly  two 
centuries  the  existence  of  the  ore  in  that  region  had  been  known 
to  white  men,  but  the  Indians  were  unwilling  to  let  them  penetrate 
to  the  mines.  This  was  especially  the  case  when  the  pushing  Amer- 
icans began  to  travel  from  the  Southern  States  to  the  upper 
Mississippi  in  quest  of  fortune.  Before  this  Frenchmen  had  been 
given  permission  to  work  the  mines  to  some  extent,  for  the  Indian 
was  ever  wont  to  fraternize  with  the  representatives  of  this  volatile 
race,  but  Americans  were  rigidly  excluded.  The  introduction  of 
firearms  among  the  Indians  had  taught  them  the  value  of  the  lead 
as  an  article  of  barter.  It  was  stated  in  a  letter  written  to  the 
secretary  of  war  in  1810  by  Nicholas  Boilvin,  agent  at  Prairie  du 
Chien,  that  the  quantity  of  lead  exchanged  by  Indians  for  goods 
during  the  season  was  about  400,000  pounds. 

Doubtless  none  but  Frenchmen  had  been  at  the  mines  previous 
to  the  war  of  1812,  but  in  1816  a  St.  Louis  trader  named  John  Shaw 
succeeded  in  penetrating  to  the  mines  of  the  Fever  river  district 
by  passing  himself  as  a  Frenchman.  He  was  one  of  the  traders 
who  made  periodical  trips  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  propelling  the  boats 
by  means  of  poles  and  sails.  It  required  from  two  weeks  to  a  month 
to  make  the  trip  up  the  river,  while  the  return  journey  occupied 
from  a  week  to  ten  days.  The  boats  carried  miscellaneous  supplies 
to  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  their  return  cargo  consisted  principally  of 
lead. 

Shaw  saw  about  twenty  smelting  places,  the  mineral  being 
smelted  in  the  crudest  way  imaginable.     This  was  Shaw's  descrip- 

166 


166  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

tion  of  the  process:  "A  hole  or  cavity  was  dug  in  the  face  of  a 
piece  of  sloping  ground,  about  two  feet  in  depth  and  as  much  in 
width  at  the  top;  this  hole  was  made  in  the  shape  of  a  mill-hopper, 
which  was  about  eight  or  nine  inches  square;  other  narrow  stones 
were  laid  across  grate-wise;  a  channel  or  eye  was  dug  from  the 
sloping  side  of  the  ground  inwards  to  the  bottom  of  the  hopper. 
This  channel  was  about  a  foot  in  width  and  in  height,  and  was  filled 
with  dry  wood  and  brush.  The  hopper  being  filled  with  the  mineral, 
and  the  wood  ignited,  the  molten  lead  fell  through  the  stones  at  the 
bottom  of  the  hopper;  and  this  was  discharged  through  the  eye, 
over  the  earth,  in  bowl-shaped  masses  called  plats,  each  of  which 
weighed  about  seventy  pounds." 

Glowing  notices  of  the  richness  of  the  lead  mines  of  the  Upper 
Mississippi  appeared  in  St.  Louis  newspapers  in  1822,  and  started  a 
migration  thitherward.  In  order  to  overawe  the  Indians,  who  would 
not  let  white  men  enter  the  district,  the  government  dispatched 
detachments  of  troops  from  Prairie  du  Chien  and  the  Rock  Island 
forts.  Finding  that  resistance  would  be  futile,  the  Indians  quietly 
submitted  to  the  Invasion  of  their  mineral  territory.  Thus  began,  a 
few  miles  south  of  the  present  border  of  the  state,  what  at  one  time 
was  the  leading  industry  of  Wisconsin,  as  the  fur  trade  had  been 
up  to  that  period.  The  newcomers  were  mainly  from  the  Southern 
states  and  territories,  and  thus  the  first  seeds  of  American  origin  in 
Wisconsin  were  the  planting  of  men  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and 
Missouri.  They  came  by  boat  and  in  caravans  on  horseback.  Soon 
the  prospector's  shovel  was  upturning  the  sod  on  the  hillsides  of 
Southwestern  Wisconsin,  the  Indian  occupants  in  sullen  resentment 
biding  their  time  for  mischief.  Galena  became  the  center  of  the 
mining  region. 

Some  of  the  adventurers  who  came  in  the  expectation  of  acquir- 
ing sudden  wealth  were  doomed  to  disappointment.  There  were 
some  who  sought  to  avoid  the  rigors  of  a  Northern  winter  by  coming 
in  the  spring  and  returning  to  their  genial  Southern  climate  when 
snow  began  to  fly.  These  tenderfeet  were  denominated  "suckers" 
by  the  hardier  miners,  an  appellation  that  was  later  transferred  to 
the  state  of  Illinois.  Their  superficial  workings  were  called  "sucker 
holes." 

Despite  muttered  threats  from  the  Indians,  and  other  dishearten- 
ing circumstances,  population  rapidly  increased.  Red  Bird's  dis- 
turbance caused  a  temporary  exodus,  but  the  frightened  miners  soon 
returned.  How  busily  pick  and  shovel  were  plied  may  be  gathered 
from  the  reports  of  lead  manufactured.  It  was  soon  seen  that  negro 
labor  could  be  well  utilized,  and  some  of  the  Southerners  brought 
slaves  to  do  the  work.  The  population  rapidly  increased.  In  1825 
It  was  estimated  that  there  were  200  persons;  three  years  later 
fully  10,000,  one-twentieth  being  women  and  about  100  free  blacks. 


The  8toru  of  the  State.  167 

The  lead  product  had  increased  in  the  same  period  from  439,473 
pounds  to  12,957,100  pounds. 

Most  of  the  miners  followed  the  Indian  plan  of  smelting  in  a 
log  furnace.  It  was  a  crude  device,  and  there  was  much  wastage. 
They  likewise  imitated  the  Indian  mode  of  blasting — heating  the 
rock  and  then  splitting  it  by  throwing  water  on  it.  "I  saw  one 
place  where  they  (the  Indians)  dug  forty-five  feet  deep,"  says  the 
account  of  Dr.  Moses  Meeker,  a  pioneer  of  the  period.  "Their  man- 
ner of  doing  it  was  by  drawing  the  mineral  dirt  and  rock  in  what 
they  called  a  mocock,  a  kind  of  basket  made  of  birch  bark,  or  dry 
hide  of  buckskin,  to  which  they  attached  a  rope  made  of  rawhide. 
Their  tools  were  a  hoe  made  for  the  Indian  trade,  an  axe  and  a 
crowbar  made  of  an  old  gun  barrel  flattened  at  the  breech,  which 
they  used  for  removing  the  rock.  Their  mode  of  blasting  was 
rather  tedious,  to  be  sure;  they  got  dry  wood,  kindled  a  fire  along 
the  rock  as  far  as  they  wished  to  break  it.  After  getting  the  rock 
hot  they  poured  cold  water  upon  it,  which  so  cracked  it  that  they 
could  pry  it  up.  At  the  old  Buck  Lead  they  removed  many  hundred 
tons  of  rock  in  that  manner,  and  had  raised  many  thousand  pounds 
of  mineral  or  lead  ore." 

During  this  period  there  came  to  Wisconsin  some  of  the  men 
who  became  most  notable  in  its  territorial  history.  Among  them 
were  Henry  Dodge,  afterwards  governor,  who  brought  with  him 
from  Missouri  a  number  of  negro  slaves;  Ebenezer  Brigham,  pioneer 
of  Blue  Mounds;  Henry  Gratiot  and  Col.  William  S.  Hamilton. 
The  latter  was  a  son  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  was  killed  by 
Aaron  Burr,  in  a  duel. 

Some  of  the  miners  realized  what  in  those  days  were  con- 
sidered great  fortunes.  One  man  sank  a  shaft  near  Hazel  Green 
on  the  site  of  an  old  Indian  digging.  "At  four  and  a  half  feet 
he  found  block  mineral  extending  over  all  the  bottom  of  his  hole," 
in  the  language  of  Dr.  Meeker's  narrative.  "He  went  to  work  and 
cut  out  steps  on  the  side  of  the  hole,  to  be  ready  for  the  next 
day's  operations.  Accordingly,  the  next  day  he  commenced  opera- 
tions. The  result  of  his  day's  work  was  seventeen  thousand  pounds 
of  mineral  upon  the  bank  at  night." 

After  raising  about  a  hundred  thousand  pounds,  the  digging  was 
abandoned.  Another  prospector  took  possession  and  secured  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds. 

Most  of  the  lead  that  was  smelted  went  to  Galena,  to  be  trans- 
ported thence  to  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans.  Long  caravans  of 
ore  wagons,  some  of  them  drawn  by  as  many  as  eight  yoke  of  oxen, 
wore  deep  ruts  into  the  primitive  road  that  went  by  way  of  Min- 
eral Point  and  Belmont  to  this  metropolis  of  the  mines.  About 
$80  a  ton  was  obtained  for  the  ore.  About  1830  tariff  agitation 
seems  to  have  caused  a  great  drop  in  prices.     At  this  period  the 


168  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsm  History. 


federal  government  exacted  from  the  miners  what  was  known  as  a 
lead  rent.  The  miners  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  secretary  of 
war,  whose  4epartment  had  control  of  the  collection  of  the  min- 
•eral  rents,  complaining  of  excessive  taxation.  The  claim  was  made 
by  them  in  their  memorial  "that  they  have  paid  a  greater  amount 
of  taxes  than  any  equal  number  of  citizens  since  the  settlement  of 
America!"  The  smelters  were  required  to  pay  10  per  cent,  of  all 
lead  manufactured  and  had  to  haul  the  rent  lead  a  distance  of  fifty 
to  sixty  miles  to  the  United  States  depot.  It  was  not  until  1846 
that  congress  abandoned  the  leasing  system. 

Doubtless  the  typical  mining  camp  in  Wisconsin  when  the  lead 
excitement  was  in  its  heyday  was  Mineral  Point.  Its  straggling 
lines  of  huts  were  ranged  along  a  deep  gorge,  and  at  all  hours  the 
sound  of  revelry  could  be  heard  emanating  from  the  saloons  and 
gambling  houses.  Dancing  and  singing,  with  the  accompaniment 
of  rude  music,  and  drinking  and  gambling  furnished  the  enter- 
tainment for  the  wilder  spirits.  The  town  bore  the  appellation  of 
the  Little  Shake-Rag,  or  Shake-Rag-Under-the-Hill.  The  origin 
of  the  peculiar  name  is  explained  by  an  early-day  traveler  In  this 
wise: 

"Females,"  says  this  account  of  sixty  years  ago,  "in  consequence 
of  the  dangers  and  privations  of  the  primitive  times,  were  as  rare 
in  the  diggings  as  snakes  upon  the  Emerald  Isle.  Consequently 
the  bachelor  miner  from  necessity  performed  the  domestic  duties 
of  cook  and  washerwoman,  and  the  preparation  of  meals  was  indi- 
cated by  appending  a  rag  to  an  upright  pole,  which,  fluttering  In 
the  breeze,  telegraphically  conveyed  the  glad  tidings  to  his  hungered 
brethren  upon  the  hill.  Hence  this  circumstance  at  a  very  early 
date  gave  this  provincial  sobriquet  of  Shake-Rag,  or  Shake-Rag- 
Under-the-Hill." 

About  the  time  that  Wisconsin  became  detached  from  Michigan, 
a  well-known  English  geologist  named  George  Featherstonhaugh 
visited  the  lead  region.  On  his  return  to  England  he  published  a 
book  of  travels,  wherein  he  gives  an  amusing  account  of  his  trip. 
It  is  interesting  as  showing  the  conditions  that  existed  in  Wis- 
consin at  the  time.  The  Englishman  went  to  a  tavern  and  was 
amazed  to  find  that  all  the  Southern  gentlemen  who  had  been 
attracted  to  the  diggings  were  "ginnerals,  colonels,  judges  or  doc- 
tors." The  tavern  was  full,  so  the  postmaster  invited  him  to 
sleep  at  his  house.  There  was  no  extra  bed,  and  he  slept  on  the 
floor. 

"On  awakening  the  next  morning,"  Featherstonhaugh  remarks 
in  his  book,  "I  found  it  exceedingly  cold,  and  asked  permission  to 
have  a  fire  lighted,  which  was  very  obligingly  granted.  Some  wood 
was  accordingly  brought  in,  and  just  as  I  had  got  it  nicely  burning 
and  was  preparing  to  make  my  toilet,  a  dirty,  unshaven  but  con- 


Tlw  Story  of  the  State. 


169 


fident-looking  fellow  walked  into  the  room  with  nothing  but  his 
nether  garments  on,  and  immediately  turning  his  back  to  the  fire, 
engrossed  it  all  to  himself.  His  free-and-easy  way  was  not  at  all 
to  my  taste,  and  threatened  to  interfere  very  much  with  my  com- 
fort. Under  other  circumstances  I  should  not  have  hesitated  to 
turn  him  out;  but  situated  as  I  was,  it  was  far  from  a  safe  pro- 
ceeding, or,  indeed,  a  justifiable  one.  It  was  certainly  very  cold, 
and  I  should  have  been  glad  to  have  had  the  fire  to  myself;  but 
I  had  been  treated  hospitably,  and  the  least  I  could  do  was  to  be 
hospitable  to  others;  besides,  my  barefooted  friend  had  an  air  about 


him  that  imported  something  beyond  the  low  swaggerer,  something 
that  smacked  of  authority.  This  might  be  the  governor,  or  some 
great  man  en  dishabille,  so  I  thought  it  best  to  meet  him  in  his  own 
manner,  by  slipping  a  pair  of  pantaloons  on,  and  then  addressing 
him  in  a  friendly  manner.  It  was  most  fortunate  that  I  acted  just 
as  it  became  me  to  do,  for  he  soon  let  me  know  who  he  was.  He 
was  no  less  a  personage  than  'the  court,'  for  so  they  generally 
call  the  presiding  judge  in  the  United  States,  and  was  beyond 
all  question  the  greatest  man  in  the  place.  He  was,  in  fact,  the 
personage  of  the  locality  for  the  moment,  and  it  tui-ned  out  that 
the  postmaster  had  given  him  up  his  only  bedroom,  and  that  lie 
had  good-naturedly  given  it  up  for  me  for  one  night,  and  had  taken 
the  majesty  of  the  law  to  sleep  behind  the  counter  in  a  little  shop 


170  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

where  the  postoffice  was  kept,  with  blankets,  crockery,  cheese  and 
all  sorts  of  things  around  him,  and  had,  very  naturally,  comi  to 
warui  himself  in  his  own  quarters." 

One  night  behind  the  counter  with  the  cheese  and  crockery 
was  all  the  court  was  willing  to  endure,  and  the  traveler  was  com- 
pelled to  go  to  a  tavern.  The  meals  were  not  to  the  taste  of  the 
Englishman,  but  as  Mineral  Point  depended  for  all  supplies  on  what 
\.'as  brought  from  a  great  distance  by  wagon,  the  bill  of  fare  was 
necessarily  restricted.  Flour,  which  in  the  Atlantic  states  sold  at 
$5  or  $6  a  barrel,  was  $14  in  Mineral  Point.  Fresh  meat  was  not 
obtainable,  and  everybody  was  too  busy  with  pick  and  shovel 
to  raise  garden  produce.  Sleeping  accommodations  were  likewise 
limited,  each  room  being  provided  with  five  or  six  beds.  A  char- 
acteristic incident  of  the  mining  country  is  told  in  Featherston- 
haugh's  narrative.  Being  obliged  to  pass  the  night  at  a  tavern 
frequented  by  miners  and  gamblers,  and  knowing  their  habits  of 
gambling  until  a  late  hour,  he  went  as  soon  as  he  had  supped  to 
the  only  bedroom  there  was  in  the  house,  and  selected  one  of  the 
beds.  Toward  morning  he  was  awakened  by  some  one  turning  the 
bedclothes  down  with  the  evident  purpose  of  turning  in.  Aware 
that  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  he  gathered  the  clothes  up,  assumed 
a  boxing  attitude  and  told  the  intruder  that  if  he  wanted  that  bed 
he  would  have  to  fight  for  it.  The  man  was  nonplussed  at  this 
unusual  reception. 

"Stranger,"  he  remarked,  "you  sartin  don't  kalkerlate  on  keep- 
ing all  that  are  bed  to  yourself?" 

"Yes  I  do,  and  that  you  shall  find." 

"Waal,  then,  if  you  are  so  almighty  pertiklar,  I  swar  I'll  be  as 
pertiklar  as  you,  and  I'll  turn  in  'ere."  With  that  he  went  into  a 
bed  where  three  of  his  companions  had  turned  in  before  him. 

The  leading  industry  of  Wisconsin  flourished  until  the  gold 
discovery  in  California  proved  a  stronger  magnet;  unfriendly  tariff 
legislation  also  influenced  a  decline  of  its  importance.  Inadequate 
transportation  facilities  also  operated  to  prevent  the  successful 
prosecution  of  lead  mining.  In  this  age  of  myriad  ribbons  of  steel 
radiating  from  every  commercial  center,  it  is  hard  to  appreciate  the 
difficulties  encountered  by  the  pioneers  in  transporting  commodi- 
ties. There  were  then  no  railroads  in  the  Northwest,  and  the  great 
transportation  projects  all  centered  in  canals.  The  lead  industry 
and  its  transportation  necessities  influenced  many  of  the  early  canal 
schemes  which  played  a  large  part  in  the  early  politics  of  the  ter- 
ritory. The  Fox-Wisconsin  route,  as  well  as  that  of  the  greater 
Mississippi  river  highway,  was  used  for  the  shipment  of  ore  to  a 
considerable  extent. 

Observing  that  shot  towers  in  Missouri  were  successful  ven- 
tures, a  Green   Bay   merchant  named   Daniel   Whitney   believed   a 


TJic  Storu  of  the  State. 


171 


similar  enterprise  could  be  made  financially  profitable  in  Wisconsin. 
He  organized  a  company,  and  they  built  their  shot  tower  at  Helena, 
on  the  Wisconsin  river.  This  was  in  1831.  The  tower  was  not  com- 
pleted till  t^sTo  years  later.  It  was  built  on  the  summit  of  a  bold 
escarpment  fronting  Pike  creek. 

A  contemporary  description  of  the  tower  gives  these  interesting 
details:  "One  hundred  feet  from  the  base  of  the  rock  there  is  a 
ledge  or  landing  place;  on  this  ledge  rises  the  shot  tower,  of  frame, 
eighty  feet  to  the  roof;  of  course  the  depth  from  the  top  of  the 
tower  to  the  base  of  the  rock  is  180  feet.  A  well  or  shaft  has 
been  sunk  through  the  rock,  which  is  of  sandstone,  100  feet,  and  a 
lateral  drift  or  entrance,  ninety  feet  in  length,  seven  feet  high  and 
six  feet  wide  has  been  cut  from  the  bank  of  the  creek  to  the  per- 
pendicular shaft." 

The  daily  output  made  by  six  hands  was  5,000  weight  of  shot. 
The  melted  lead  was  converted  into  shot  in  this  vv^ise,  as  described 
by  Clark  Hickox  of  Dodgeville:  "At  the  edge  of  the  cliff  stood  the 
melting  house,  with  two  kettles  in  which  mineral  was  prepared  for 
dropping.  A  little  to  the  east  of  this  were  an  arch  and  a  large 
kettle  protected  by  a  small  roof.  Here  the  lead  was  tempered  by 
tue  addition  of  arsenic,  and  run  into  pigs  for  further  use,  and  here 
also  the  imperfect  shot  was  remelted.  The  pigs  thus  obtained  were 
used  to  give  the  requisite  brittleness  to  the  lead  from  which  the 
shot  was  made.  A  small  portion  would  sufiice  to  temper  a  kettle 
holding  1,000  pounds  of  lead.  The  dropping  ladle  was  perforated 
with  holes  of  varying  size,  and  when  partly  full  of  melted  lead 
would  be  tilted  gently  sidewise,  forcing  the  metal  out  in  drops  to 
form  the  shot,  which  falling  180  feet  would  assume  a  spherical 
shape  and  at  the  same  time  be  cooled.  At  the  bottom  of  the  shaft 
the  shot  fell  into  the  shot-cistern,  filled  with  water,  which  served 
both  to  break  the  fall  and  cool  the  shot." 


First  Newspaper  Office  in  Wisconsin. 
Green   Bay,    1836. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BLACK    hawk's    WAR. 

iNTRt'siox  by  squatters  upon  hunting  grounds  assured  to  the 
Indians  by  the  federal  government  was  the  main  cause  of  the  Black 
Hawk  war  in  1832.  But  for  the  craven  cowardice  of  Illinois  volun- 
teers, the  disturbance  would  have  ended  shortly  after  its  com- 
mencement, without  serious  consequences.  During  the  tierce  pur- 
suit across  Wisconsin,  the  Sac  warriors  were  hunted  with  relentless 
fury;  women  and  children  were  remorselessly  massacred;  the  hag 
of  truce  was  disregarded,  and  starving  men,  willing  to  surrender, 
were  shot  and  bayonetted,  and  even  scalped.  Black  Hawk's  band 
of  a  thousand  people  was  annihilated  in  the  end,  less  than  two 
hundred  of  them  surviving  the  war.  The  lives  of  nearly  three 
hundred  frontier  rangers,  and  of  women  and  children  in  the  exposed 
fringe  of  settlements,  was  the  price  paid  for  the  victory. 

"I  liked  my  town,  my  cornfields  and  the  home  of  my  people. 
I  fought  for  them,"  Black  Hawk  said  simply  in  after  years. 

Long  before  actual  hostilities  began,  trouble  had  been  brewing 
between  Black  Hawk's  Sacs  and  white  intruders  upon  their  territory. 
By  the  terms  of  a  league  of  peace  and  amity  established  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  before  (1804),  the  chiefs  of  the  great  Sac 
and  Fox  confederacy  had  yielded  to  the  government  nearly  all  their 
land  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  The  right  of  occu- 
pancy for  hunting  and  cultivation  had  been  given  them  until  the 
government  saw  fit  to  place  the  lands  on  the  market.  Pursuant  to 
this  agreement,  the  Sacs  under  Black  Hawk  occupied  a  fertile  tract 
at  the  foot  of  the  Rock  River  rapids.  On  the  sides  of  a  bluff,  com- 
prising about  800  acres,  were  the  tribe's  fields  of  corn,  beans,  pump- 
kins and  squashes.  Black  Hawk's  village  was  one  of  the  largest 
Indian  settlements  on  the  continent,  and  was  ideally  located,  blx- 
cellent  pasturage  for  their  horses  was  afforded  by  the  blue  gi"ass 
herbage;  in  the  rapids  of  the  river  fish  abounded;  springs  gushed 
forth  from  the  bluffs.  For  a  century,  almost,  the  Sacs  had  made 
this  spot  their  home.  The  graves  of  their  forefathers  were  here, 
and  made  the  soil  doubly  sacred. 

Covetous  squatters  began  encroaching  here.  L,and  was  plenty 
elsewhere,  and  the  border  was  two  score  miles  eastward  yet,  but 
the  restless  frontiersmen  were  pushing  ahead  of  the  regular  line  of 
advance.  The  growing  crops  and  the  splendid  situation  tempted 
their  cupidity.  With  cool  disregard  of  Indian  rights,  the  whites 
began  to  fence  in  the  cornfields  and  even  to  occupy  the  lodges. 
Upon  returning  from  a  hunt  Black  Hawk  found  a  white  man's 
family  comfortably  occupying  his   own  wigwam.     For   some   time 


IMm 


The  Story  of  the  State.  173 

enmity  was  confined  to  muttered  threats,  but  soon  trouble  ensuea. 
Indian  women  were  averse  to  climbing  white  men's  fences,  and  iett 
the  rails  down,  and  this  led  to  personal  encounters. 

In  order  to  secure  redress,  Black  Hawk  went  to  Rock  Island  to 
present  his  grievances,  but  received  scant  comfort.  He  was  advised 
to  remove  his  band  across  the  Mississippi  river.  This  he  refused  to 
do.  When  he  returned,  after  an  absence  of  one  moon,  affairs  at  the 
village  were  in  worse  condition  than  ever.  Before  returning  he 
had  sought  the  counsel  of  the  Winnebago  prophet.  White  Cioua, 
whose  village  was  located  some  thirty  miles  up  the  Rock  river. 

"Never  give  up  your  village,"  this  crafty  medicine  man  had 
warned  him,  "or  the  bones  of  your  people  will  be  ploughed  up  and 
scattered." 

The  whites  having  appealed  to  the  government,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  make  a  military  display  that  would  awe  the  Indians  into 
compliance  with  the  demand  for  removal.  Gen.  Gaines  and  a 
detachment  of  regulars  appeared  on  the  scene  and  commanded  the 
Indians  to  move  across  the  river.  Black  Hawk,  who  had  not  been 
consulted  when  the  other  chiefs  of  the  confederacy  signed  the  treaty 
that  gave  their  lands  to  the  government,  stubbornly  resisted  the 
mandate  at  a  council  that  was  held. 

"We  have  never  sold  our  country,"  he  declared,  "and  we  are 
determined  to  hold  our  village." 

"And  who  is  Black  Hawk?"  angrily  demanded  Gen.  Gaines. 

"I  am  a  Sac!  My  forefather  was  a  Sac.  and  all  the  nations  call 
me  a  Sac!"  proudly  replied  the  chief. 

"I  came  here  neither  to  beg  nor  to  hire  you  to  leave  your  vil- 
lage," retorted  the  ofiicer.  "My  business  is  to  remove  you — peace- 
ably if  I  can,  forcibly  if  I  must." 

This  broke  up  the  council.  During  the  night  of  the  last  day 
given  him  to  comply  with  the  order.  Black  Hawk  removed  his  band 
to  the  west  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  and  touched  the  goosequlll  that 
betokened  a  treaty  of  peace. 

While  Black  Hawk  was  smarting  from  the  indignities  to  which 
his  people  had  been  subjected,  there  arrived  at  his  village  a  bearer 
of  tidings  from  the  British  agent  at  Fort  Maiden.  Ne-a-pope, 
another  chief  of  the  Hawk's  tribe,  was  the  messenger.  This  chief, 
like  the  Hawk,  had  British  affiliations.  On  his  way  back  from  Mai- 
den he  had  tarried  at  the  Winnebago  village  of  the  Prophet,  whose 
hatred  of  the  Americans  was  intense.  Ne-a-pope  and  White  Cloud 
together  fabricated  a  tale  meant  to  stir  Black  Hawk  to  active 
hostilities.  This  false  story  Ne-a-pope  now  poured  into  the  receptive 
ear  of  the  Hawk.  He  said  that  "their  British  father  would  send 
them  guns,  ammunition,  provisions  and  clothing  early  in  the  spring; 
the  vessels  were  to  bring  them  by  way  of  Mil-wa-ke.  The  Prophet 
had  also  received  wampum  and  tobacco  from  the  different  nations 


174  Leading  Events  of  JVisconsin  History. 

on  the  lakes — Ottawas,  Chippewas  and  Pottawattomies;  and  as  for 
the  Winnebagoes,  he  had  them  all  at  command;  that  all  these  tribes 
would  fight  for  them,  If  necessary,  and  the  British  would  support 
them." 

Lured  by  these  false  promises  of  aid.  Black  Hawk  determlnea 
to  attempt  the  rescue  of  his  village  in  the  spring.  Before  this  he 
sought  to  arrange  an  interview  with  the  Great  Father  at  Washington 
to  secure  a  peaceable  adjustment,  but  his  efforts  were  repulsed. 
He  sought  to  enlist  Chief  Keokuk  in  his  contemplated  invasion, 
but  the  latter  was  friendly  to  the  Americans,  and  declined  his 
overtures. 

Hoisting  a  British  flag.  Black  Hawk's  people  crossed  the  Missis- 
sippi early  in  April,  and  began  a  march  toward  the  village  of  the 
Prophet.  His  five  hundred  warriors  bestrode  their  horses,  while  the 
women,  chirdren  and  old  men  carried  provisions  and  equipage  in  a 
flotilla  of  canoes.  Messengers  came  to  them  from  Gen.  Atkinson,  at 
Rock  Island,  ordering  their  return.  Defiant  answers  were  sent  back, 
and  the  party  proceeded  on  to  the  Prophet's  town  on  the  Kock 
river  of  Illinois. 

Before  going  very  far.  Black  Hawk  realized  that  he  was  the 
victim  of  Ne-a-pope's  deception.  The  allies  who  had  been  repre- 
sented as  eager  to  take  the  war  path  failed  to  appear.  Instead  word 
reached  Black  Hawk  that  a  considerable  force  of  Illinois  volunteers 
was  hot  on  his  trail.  He  determined  to  send  a  flag  of  truce  and 
ascertain  whether  he  would  be  permitted  to  descend  the  Kock  river 
and  return  to  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  river.  While  he  was 
spreading  his  medicine  bags  regaling  a  visiting  deputation  of  Potta- 
wattomie  chiefs  at  a  dog  feast,  word  came  that  several  hundred 
horsemen  were  encamping  in  a  grove  several  miles  distant.  Accord- 
ingly he  dispatched  three  of  his  young  men  with  a  flag  of  truce  to 
conduct  the  rangers  to  his  camp.  He  sent  five  warriors  to  follow 
the  truce  messengers. 

The  rangers  had  encamped  in  a  clump  of  woods.  They  had  par- 
taken quite  liberally  of  whisky,  and  were  in  the  mood  to  wipe  the 
entire  race  of  red  men  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  When  they  observed 
the  truce  messengers  approaching,  some  of  them  jumped  on  their 
horses  and  took  the  three  Indians  prisoners.  Then,  observing  the 
five  braves  who  were  watching  events  from  some  distance  away, 
about  twenty  of  the  horsemen  galloped  madly  in  pursuit.  Two  of 
the  Indians  were  overtaken,  shot  and  scalped.  Their  three  com- 
panions reached  Black  Hawk's  camp  with  the  news.  When  the  chief 
heard  the  treatment  accorded  his  messengers,  who  had  borne  a  flag 
of  truce,  he  raised  the  war  yell  of  the  Sacs,  and  in  an  impassioned 
harangue  urged  his  braves  to  seek  revenge  for  the  cowardly  attack. 
Most  of  his  young  men  were  absent,  some  ten  miles  away,  but  forty 
braves  responded  by  seizing  their  weapons  and  giving  an  answering 
war  yell. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  175 

When  the  beai-ers  of  the  flag  of  truce  were  taken  prisoners,  tney 
delivered  the  message  sent  by  Black  Hawk.  Several  horsemen  at 
this  juncture  returned  from  the  pursuit  of  the  other  five  braves. 
They  cocked  their  guns  and  fired  at  the  three  prisoners.  One  of 
them  was  killed;  his  two  companions  rushed  through  the  crowd  and 
hid  in  the  brush.  They  were  pursued.  One  white  man  who  ventured 
too  near  their  ambush  was  brained  by  a  flying  tomahawk.  The 
Indian  scalped  him,  mounted  his  horse  and  escaped. 

Having  had  a  taste  of  warfare,  the  Illinois  rangers  concluded 
to  flnish  the  day  by  destroying  Black  Hawk's  encampment.  They 
moved  upon  it  at  full  gallop.  The  forty  Indians  saw  several  hundred 
mounted  rangers  advancing  upon  them,  and  determined  to  die 
bravely.  With  a  yell,  they  charged  and  fired,  as  the  enemy  halted 
some  distance  from  them.  To  the  intense  astonishment  of  the 
Indians,  who  had  made  a  rush  with  every  expectation  that  not  one 
of  them  would  live  to  tell  of  it,  their  fire  was  not  even  returned. 
The  cowardly  horsemen,  in  frantic  confusion,  turned  their  horses' 
heads  and  madly  galloped  away  in  helter-skelter  fashion.  Their 
dead  and  wounded  were  left  upon  the  ground  to  the  tender  mercy  of 
tomahawk  and  scalping  knife.  It  was  a  spectacle  most  humiliating 
in  all  the  annals  of  border  warfare — twenty-five  painted  warriors 
hotly  pursuing  more  than  three  hundred  well-mounted  and  armed 
white  men. 

"Never  was  I  so  much  surprised  in  my  life  as  1  was  in  this 
attack,"  Black  Hawk  afterwards  stated  in  an  autobiography  tnat 
he  dictated  while  a  prisoner  in  Jefferson  barracks.  "An  army  of 
three  or  four  hundred,  after  having  learned  that  we  were  suing  for 
peace,  to  attempt  to  kill  the  flag-bearers  that  had  gone  unarmed  to 
ask  for  a  meeting  of  the  war-chiefs  of  the  two  contending  parties 
to  hold  a  council,  that  I  might  return  to  the  west  side  of  tne  Missis- 
sippi; to  come  forward  with  a  full  determination  to  demolish  the 
few  braves  I  had  with  me;  to  retreat  when  they  had  ten  to  one,  was 
unaccountable  to  me." 

It  was  a  complete  rout.  The  rangers  were  utterly  panic- 
stricken.  Had  a  handful  of  them  made  a  stand  at  their  camp  in  the 
woods,  they  could  easily  have  repulsed  their  few  pursuers.  IN  one 
of  them  stopped  there,  but  madly  went  on  towards  the  border  settle- 
ments, scattering  fear  in  all  northern  Illinois.  Their  exaggerated 
accounts  created  tremendous  consternation,  and  the  governor  of  the 
state  energetically  prepared  to  raise  a  large  force  of  men  to  join  the 
regulars  from  Rock  Island. 

The  disastrous  encounter  with  Black  Hawk's  band  has  become 
known  as  Stillman's  defeat,  from  the  name  of  the  commander  of  the 
corps.  It  occurred  May  14,  1832.  Eleven  whites  were  killed,  the 
Indian  loss  being  limited  to  the  three  braves  who  were  treacherously 
shot.     Black   Hawk  secured  much  needed  plunder  in  the  deserted 


176 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  Eistory. 


camp,  and  his  warriors  were  inspired  to  believe  that  they  could  con- 
quer any  force  of  whites.  Guided  by  friendly  Winnebagoes,  they 
moved  towards  Lake  Koshkonong,  in  the  impenetrable  marshes  of 
which  their  chieftain  believed  himself  secure  from  attack.  Before 
proceeding  thence  they  attacked  a  fort  on  Apple  river  and  raided 
isolated  frontier  cabins,  adding  a  number  of  scalps  to  the  eleven 
secured  in  their  first  encounter. 

In  the  mining  camps  of  Wisconsin  the  Black  Hawk  raid  caused 
tremendous  excitement.  Families  in  exposed  places  hurried  to  the 
centers  of  population,  and  the  leading  spirits  of  the  community  toolt 
energetic  measures  for  defense.  Henry  Dodge,  afterwards  governor 
of  the  territory,  was  one  of  the  men  who  went  actively  to  the  front, 


Bad  Ax,   Scene  of  Indian  Attack   on   Keelboats. 


urging  the  people  to  arm  and  gather  for  defensive  purposes.  Boon 
the  following  forts,  as  they  were  called,  consisting  of  one  or  more 
block -houses  and  stockades,  had  been  erected  and  equipped: 

Fort  Union — Col.  Henry  Dodge's  residence,  near  Dodgevilie. 

Fort  Defiance — At  the  farm  of  Daniel  M.  Parkinson,  five  miles 
southeast  of  Mineral  Point. 

Fort  Jackson — At  Mineral  Point. 

Fort  Hamilton — At  Hamilton's  lead  diggings,  afterwards  called 
Wiota. 

Mound  Fort — On  a  high  plain  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  the 
residence  of  Ebenezer  Brigham  at  Blue  Mounds. 

Parish's  Fort — At  the  farm  of  Thomas  J.  Parish,  later  called 
Wingville. 


TJie  Story  of  the  State.  177 

De  Seelhorst's  Fort — At  the  farm  of  Justus  De  SeelJiorst,  near 
Elk  Grove. 

Stockades  were  also  erected  at  Platteville,  White  Oak  Springs, 
Old  Shullsburg,  Gratiot's  Grove  and  John  B.  Terry's  farm,  Diamond 
Grove.  Fort  Union  was  headquarters,  and  here  several  hunared 
mounted  volunteers  assembled  upon  receipt  of  information  that  an 
attack  upon  Fort  Mound  was  expected.  The  settlers  in  the  mining 
country  greatly  feared  that  the  Winnebagoes  would  join  the  Sacs, 
as  it  was  known  they  were  disposed  to  aid  the  band  that  was  now 
creating  a  reign  of  terror  along  the  border.  Black  Hawk's  plan  of 
campaign  was  to  send  out  detached  parties  to  raid  exposed  places, 
the  bands  thereupon  making  for  the  marshes  of  Koshkonong;  there 
they  considered  themselves  safe. 

Three  thousand  volunteers  gathered  at  Beardstown  in  response 
to  the  call  of  the  govornor  of  Illinois.  In  Wisconsin,  Col.  Dodge  was 
energetically  gathering  his  volunteers.  On  the  16th  of  June  occurred 
what  became  known  as  the  Battle  of  Pecatonica.  Tnough  few  men 
were  engaged  on  either  side,  the  fight  was  notable  on  account  of  the 
great  loss  of  life  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  combatants.  Seven- 
teen Sacs  who  had  massacred  five  men  working  in  a  cornfield  were 
pursued  by  Dodge  and  twenty-eight  followers.  The  Indians  were 
overtaken  on  the  banks  of  the  Pecatonica,  where  they  had  sought  the 
ambush  of  thickets  and  sand  banks.  As  Dodge  and  his  men  were 
fording  the  river,  the  Indians  fired  a  volley  that  killed  three  of  the 
men  and  wounded  another.  Before  they  could  reload,  the  volunteers 
were  upon  them.  Every  Indian  was  killed,  the  combat  lasting  but  a 
few  minxites. 

Arrangements  were  now  made  to  join  the  forces  from  Illinois 
with  those  from  Wisconsin,  to  corral  Black  Hawk  in  his  lurking 
place  at  Koshkonong.  Gen.  Atkinson  was  in  command,  his  force 
comprising  a  thousand  men  under  Posey  and  Alexander;  1,200  under 
Col.  Henry;  150  volunteers  under  Dodge;  450  regulars  under  Maj. 
Zachary  Taylor. 

While  plans  were  maturing  to  entrap  Black  Hawk  at  Kosh- 
konong, the  chieftain  and  his  band  had  quietly  departed.  The 
marshes  and  swamps  of  the  region  were  inaccessible  to  their  pur- 
suers, but  were  not  tenable  for  any  great  length  of  time  on  account 
of  the  scarcity  of  game.  In  order  to  satisfy  their  hunger,  the 
squaws  dug  roots,  and  finally  the  bark  of  trees  was  used  for  food. 
Black  Hawk  concluded  that  safety  could  not  be  secured  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river.  Fearing  that  his  encampment  would  be  sur- 
rounded by  the  army  in  motion  against  him,  he  determined  to  reach 
the  Wisconsin  and  proceed  thence  to  the  Mississippi. 

But  for  an  unlooked-for  mischance  this  plans  would  have  suc- 
ceeded. Gen.  Atkinson  had  dispatched  Cols.  Henry,  Dodge  and 
Alexander  to  Fort  Winnebago  to  secure  provisions.    While  returning 


178  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

they  came  upon  the  fresh  trail  of  the  fugitives  leading  westward 
towards  the  Wisconsin  river.  Henry  and  Dodge  took  up  the  pursuit 
with  celerity  and  came  upon  the  band  at  Wisconsin  Heights.  The 
women  and  children  were  being  transported  to  an  island  in  the 
river,  and  to  cover  the  retreat  Black  Hawk  and  his  warriors  made 
a  stand.  Firing  began  at  once.  Rain  was  falling,  and  it  was  found 
impossible  to  follow  the  Indians  through  the  wet  high  grass  of  the 
bottoms.    At  sunset  firing  ceased. 

During  the  night  Black  Hawk's  people  escaped.  Many  of  their 
old  men,  women  and  children  were  placed  on  a  raft  and  in  a  few 
canoes  in  the  hope  that  they  would  be  allowed  to  drift  past  the 
guns  of  Fort  Crawford,  as  non-combatants,  without  harm,  it  was 
a  vain  hope.  When  the  miserable  squaws  and  their  children  came 
within  range  of  the  guns,  a  volley  of  bullets  tore  through  their 
midst.  Nearly  a  score  of  the  Indians  were  killed;  another  score 
met  death  in  the  rapid  current  of  the  river  as  they  sought  to  escape 
to  the  shore.  Some  of  the  fugifives  reached  the  woods  and  either 
starved  to  death  or  fell  beneath  the  tomahawks  of  a  party  or 
Menomonees  who  had  allied  themselves  with  the  Americans. 

The  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk  to  the  Mississippi,  after  the  conhict 
at  Wisconsin  Heights,  was  resumed  with  redoubled  vigor.  The  trail 
of  the  fleeing  Indians  was  marked  by  dead  bodies — victims  of 
wounds  and  of  starvation.  The  night  of  the  battle  a  loud  voice  had 
been  heard  from  one  of  the  hills,  addressing  the  militia  in  the  Win- 
nebago tongue.  It  was  Ne-a-pope  asking  the  Americans  to  accept 
the  surrender  of  their  vanquished  foes  and  pleading  the  privilege  ot 
being  permitted  to  cross  the  Mississippi.  He  was  not  understood, 
and  in  despair  the  Sacs  resumed  their  disheartening  retreat. 

The  entire  army  of  Gen.  Atkinson  was  in  full  cry  close  upon 
the  heels  of  their  harried  prey,  but  not  until  the  Sacs  came  to  the 
Mississippi  were  they  overtaken.  Here  ensued  the  bloodiest  conhict 
of  the  war,  in  the  first  days  of  August.  Below  the  mouth  of  the 
Bad  Axe  river,  the  Indians  began  to  cross.  They  had  but  a  few 
canoes,  and  it  promised  to  be  a  work  of  some  time  to  transport  the 
band  across.  While  so  engaged  there  came  up  the  river  the  steamer 
Warrior,  having  on  board  a  number  of  men  from  Fort  Crawford. 
Black  Hawk  waved  a  white  flag  from  the  shore  in  token  of  sur- 
render. The  only  reply  was  a  shot  from  the  boat's  six-pounder, 
and  a  fusilade  from  the  small  arms.  The  despairing  Indians  answered 
in  kind,  but  the  men  on  tne  boat  were  amply  protected.  But  one 
of  the  Americans  was  wounded,  while  more  than  a  score  of  the 
Indians  were  killed. 

Perceiving  the  hopeless  situation  of  his  people,  Black  Hawk 
determined  to  seek  personal  safety  in  the  wild  recesses  of  the  Wis- 
consin dalles.  A  few  faithful  companions  went  with  him.  The  fallen 
chief  was  seized  with  remorse  at  the  thought  of  deserting  his  people. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  179 

and  he  returned  to  share  their  fate.  He  arrived  just  in  time  to  wit- 
ness the  dreadful  slaughter  now  known  as  the  battle  of  Bad  Axe, 
but  in  reality  more  a  massacre  than  a  battle.  The  militia  and  regu- 
lars had  reached  the  river  long  before  the  few  canoes  possessed  by 
the  Indians  could  carry  more  than  a  few  of  them  across.  The 
story  is  best  told  in  the  words  of  Black  Hawk: 

"Early  in  the  morning  a  party  of  whites,  being  in  advance  of 
the  army,  came  upon  our  people,  who  were  attempting  to  cross  the 
Mississippi;  they  tried  to  give  themselves  up;  the  whites  paid  no 
attention  to  their  entreaties,  but  commenced  slaughtering  them. 
In  a  little  while  the  whole  army  arrived;  our  braves,  but  few  in 
number,  finding  that  the  enemy  paid  no  attention  to  age  or  sex, 
and  seeing  that  they  were  murdering  helpless  women  and  little 
children,  determined  to  fight  until  they  were  killed.  As  many  women 
as  could  commenced  swimming  the  Mississippi,  with  their  children 
on  their  backs;  a  number  of  them  were  drowned,  and  some  shot, 
before  they  could  reach  the  opposite  shore." 

On  an  island  in  the  river  some  of  the  warriors,  who  had  reached 
it  by  swimming,  made  a  final  stand.  The  cannon  of  the  warrior 
sent  a  raking  fire  through  their  midst,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty 
regulars  who  were  transported  to  the  island  in  the  Warrior's  boats, 
finished  the  work  with  their  bayonets. 

The  Indian  loss  by  drowning  was  doubtless  greater  than  by 
bullets — about  three  hundred  in  all.  Those  who  had  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  river,  about  three  hundred,  and  two  score  women  and 
children  who  were  taken  prisoners,  alone  survived  of  Black  Hawk's 
people.  But  a  few  months  before  they  had  counted  a  thousand 
warriors,  women  and  children.  The  wretched  fugitives  had  more 
woe  in  store  for  them.  Their  old-time  enemies,  the  Sioux,  fell  upon 
them  on  the  western  banks  where  they  had  hoped  to  find  shelter. 
Less  than  half  the  number  of  those  who  had  crossed  reached  the 
villages  of  their  kinsmen. 

The  wretched  chieftain  of  the  vanquished  Sacs  fled  after  wit- 
nessing the  awful  slaughter  at  Bad  Axe. 

Treacherous  in  their  instincts,  the  Winnebagoes  proved  rene- 
gades to  their  Sac  allies  when  the  fortune  of  war  turned  against 
them.  They  had  secretly  leagued  with  Black  Hawk  when  the 
struggle  began,  and  at  one  time  Gen.  Dodge's  volunteers  would  have 
been  ambuscaded  and  doubtless  cut  to  pieces  in  following  a  Win- 
nebago guide,  but  for  a  mere  accident  that  led  fo  a  cnange  of  route. 
The  Winnebagoes  now  hastened  to  prove  friendly  to  the  whites, 
and  to  prove  it  brought  Black  Hawk  a  prisoner  to  Prairie  du  Ohien. 
One-eyed  Dekora  and  a  companion  named  Chaetar  brought  the 
prisoner,  who  wore  a  dress  of  white-tanned  deer-skins. 

The  one-eyed  captor  addressed  the  general  in  this  fashion,  as  he 
pointed  to  Black  Hawk  and  his   fellow  prisoner,  the   evil-minded 


180  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


Prophet:  "You  told  us  to  bring  them  to  you  alive;  we  have  done 
so.  If  you  had  told  us  to  bring  their  heads  alone,  we  would  have 
done  so — and  it  would  have  been  less  difficult  than  what  we  have 
done. 

"My  Father! — We  deliver  these  men  into  your  hands.  We  want 
you  to  keep  them  safe.  If  they  are  to  be  hurt,  we  do  not  wish  to 
see  it.    Wait  until  we  are  gone  before  it  is  done. 

"My  Father! — Many  little  birds  have  been  flying  about  our  ears 
of  late  and  we  thought  they  whispered  to  us  that  there  was  evil 
intended  for  us;  but  now  we  hope  these  evil  birds  will  let  our  ears 
alone." 

Chaetar  was  more  to  the  point.    He  said: 

"My  Father! — Soldiers  sometimes  stick  the  end  of  their  guns 
(bayonets)  into  the  backs  of  Indian  prisoners.  I  hope  this  will  not 
be  done  to  these  men." 

Maj.  Zachary  Taylor  responded  with  assurances  to  relieve  their 
minds: 

"My  Children! — I  will  keep  them  safe  and  will  do  them  no  harm. 
I  will  deliver  them  to  the  great  chief  of  the  warriors,  and  he  will  flo 
with  them  and  use  them  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  ordered  by  your 
Great  Father,  the  president." 

Black  Hawk  was  taken  to  Jefferson  barracks,  and  then  on  a 
tour  of  the  East,  to  impress  him  with  the  futility  of  Indian 'resist- 
ance to  the  power  of  the  whites.  Finally  he  was  turned  over  to  the 
custody  of  his  hated  rival  Keokuk.  He  felt  the  humiliation  keenly, 
but  the  feathers  of  his  wings  had  been  plucked;  the  Hawk  flew  no 
more. 

The  Black  Hawk  war  was  notable  on  account  of  the  many 
noted  men  who  took  part  in  the  events,  among  them  Abi*aham  L<in- 
coln,  who  served  as  a  "private  horseman"  in  a  company  of  rangers; 
Zachary  Taylor,  in  command  of  the  regulars;  Lieut.  Jefferson  Davis, 
afterwards  president  of  the  Southern  confederacy;  Charles  Dunn, 
who  afterwards  became  chief  justice  of  the  territorial  Supreme 
court;  William  S.  Hamilton,  son  of  Washington's  famous  secretary 
of  the  treasury;  Henry  Dodge,  first  governor  of  Wisconsin  territory, 
and  first  United  States  senator  from  the  state;  Henry  Gratiot,  one  of 
the  prominent  pioneers  of  Wisconsin. 


m 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IN    THE    DAYS    OF    THE    TERRITORY. 

Long  caravans  of  prairie  schooners  made  the  Wisconsin  country 
their  destination  soon  after  the  Black  Hawk  war.  That  struggle 
had  advertised  its  fertile  prairies  and  valleys  in  the  East,  and  intend- 
ing settlers  eagerly  purchased  the  thousands  of  guide  books  and 
pamphlets  printed  by  enterprising  publishers,  purporting  to  describe 
the  natural  attractions  of  the  Western  territory.  The  march  of  the 
volunteers  across  the  region  beginning  at  Koshkonong  and  terminat- 
ing at  the  mouth  of  the  Bad  Axe  on  the  Mississippi  had  disclosed  the 
productive  richness  and  sylvan  attractiveness  of  Wisconsin,  and 
hardy  immigrants  from  New  England  and  New  York  soon  arrived  in 
great  numbers. 

Many  of  the  soldiers  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  were  sons  of 
farmers,  and  as  they  crossed  the  state  in  the  chase  after  the  Hac 
warriors  they  mentally  staked  out  farms  in  the  fertile  valleys  ana 
uplands.  Previous  to  this  time  it  had  been  the  general  impression 
that  Wisconsin  was  a  mere  maze  of  morasses— another  Great  Dismal 
Swamp.  Long  before,  it  had  been  planned  to  convert  Wisconsin 
into  a  great  Indian  territory.  As  early  as  1822  a  contingent  ot 
Brothertown  and  Oneida  Indians  were  transported  hither  from  New 
York.  There  was  even  a  plan  to  found  a  great  Indian  empire,  but 
the  man  who  conceived  it,  Eleazer  Williams,  was  an  erratic  indi- 
vidual and  his  scheme  came  to  naught. 

The  immigration  from  the  East  was  the  second  great  influx  ot 
inhabitants;  the  first  had  been  attracted  to  the  mining  camps  ot 
Southwestern  Wisconsin — men  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  The  second  migration  scattered  agricultural  com- 
munities in  the  southeastern  part  of  Wisconsin,  and  along  the  lake 
shore.  The  third  comers  did  not  begin  to  arrive  till  nearly  a  decade 
later,  when  hardy  Swiss  and  Germans,  Scandinavians,  Belgians  and 
Dutch  sought  in  this  part  of  the  new  world  homes  for  themselves 
and  their  children.  These  ^became  the  three  elements  whose  distinct- 
ive impress  remains  at  this  day;  French  influences  vanished  long 
ago,  and  survive  only  in  the  names  borne  by  some  of  the  streams 
and  towns. 

Previous  to  the  year  1836,  Wisconsin  had  been  a  neglected  sec- 
tion, successively,  of  the  territories  of  the  Northwest,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois and  Michigan.  As  early  as  1824,  Judge  James  Duane  Doty,  who 
represented  the  judicial  authority  of  Michigan  territory  in  the 
region  west  of  the  lake,  had  begun  an  agitation  to  secure  separate 
territorial  government  for  Wisconsin.  He  addressed  a  petition  to 
Senator  Thomas  H.  Benton  of  Missouri,  urging  congressional  action. 

181 


182 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


He  represented  that  the  seat  of  government  (Detroit),  being  six 
hundred  miles  distant,  totally  inaccessible  during  the  winter  season 
and  nearly  so  by  land  at  all  periods  of  the  year,  the  people  regarded 
it  as  little  more  than  the  capitol  of  a  foreign  government;  that 
their  votes  for  representatives  could  not  be  forwarded  in  time  to 
be  counted;  that  this  being  the  home  of  some  of  the  most  numerous 


Territorial   Seal. 


Territorial   Seal. 


and  warlike  nations  of  Indians  within  the  United  States,  the  people 
ought  to  have  better  facilities  for  protection,  etc.,  etc.  Judge  Doty 
proposed  to  call  the  territory  Chippewau.  and  included  in  the 
boundaries  which  he  suggested  the  northern  peninsula  of  Michigan, 
and  large  sections  of  the  present  states  of  Illinois  and  Minnesota. 
He  gave  this  interesting  summary  of  the  settlements  then  scattered 


The  Story  of  the  State.  183 

over  this  territory,  all  but  two  of  them  begun  -while  the  country- 
was  under  the  dominion  of  Prance: 

Pauwayteeg,  or  the  Sault  de  Ste.  Marie,  Is  situated  north  of  Detroit,  which 
is  the  seat  of  government  of  Michigan,  and  the  distance  between  them  is  400 
miles. 

Mackinaw  island  is  90  miles  from  the  Sault. 

Pointe  Ste.  Ignace,  the  site  of  the  Jesuit's  establishment  in  1678,  is  three 
miles  from  Mackinaw. 

Mouth  of  the  Munnomonee  river  is  180  miles  from  la  Pointe  Ste.  Ignace 
(Maca). 

Green  Bay  Settlement,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  river,  is  60  miles  from 
Munnomonee  river,  and  600  from  Detroit.  This  settlement  is  six  miles  square. 

Milwaukee  is  90  miles  from  Green   Bay. 

Grand  Kaukaunnah  is  18  miles  from  Green  Bay. 

La  Butte  des  Mortes  is  70  miles  from  Green  Bay. 

Portage,  from  the  Pox  river  to  the  Mississippi  river,  is  220  miles  from 
Green  Bay.     This  Is  a  portage  one  mile  and  a  quarter. 

Prairie  du  Chien,  or  Mindoty,  on  the  Mississippi  near  the  mouth  of  the 
"Wiskonsin,  is  180  miles  from  the  portage — 100  from  Green  Bay  and  940  from 
Detroit.  It  is  the  seat  of  justice  for  Crawford  county.  It  is  9  miles  long  and 
2  broad.  By  a  cession  made  to  Gen'l  Pike  in  1805,  the  U.  S.  have  a  right  to 
claim  9  or  10  miles  square  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wiskonsin. 

Galena,  on  Fever  river,   is  90  miles  from  Prairie  du  Chien. 

St.  Peters  is  300  miles  above  Prairie  du  Chien  and  7  below  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony. 

Pembinau  is  on  the  Red  river  near  the  49°  of  latitude. 

To  these  may  be  added  the  permanent  trading  establishments  on  Lake 
Superior  of  The  Bay,  Montreal  island  and  Fond  du  Lac;  and  of  Lac  du  Flam- 
beau, Lake  St.  Croix,  Sandy  Lake  and  Leech  Lake  in  the  interior. 

Judge  Doty's  estimate  of  the  population  within  these  settlements 
was  "between  six  and  seven  thousand  souls." 

Despite  the  earnestness  with  which  Judge  Doty  pressed  his 
territorial  hobby,  it  was  not  until  twelve  years  after  he  began  the 
agitation  that  the  enabling  act  passed  congress.  During  this  long 
period  of  agitation,  various  names  were  suggested  for  the  proposed 
territory,  among  them  Chippewau,  Huron,  Superior  and  Wiskonsan. 
Judge  Doty  was  partial  to  the  last-mentioned  rendering  of  the 
euphonious  French  Ouisconsin;  it  was  not  till  1845  that  the  legis- 
lature decided  the  official  spelling  of  it  as  W-i-s-c-o-n-s-i-n. 

It  is  probable  that  Wisconsin  would  have  had  to  wait  longer 
before  donning  long  clothes  had  not  Michigan  at  this  time  (1836) 
had  statehood  conferred  upon  it.  This  left  a  large  section  of  coun- 
try west  of  Lake  Michigan  unorganized,  and  so  what  is  now  Wis- 
consin, Iowa,  Minnesota  and  a  part  of  Dakota  was  put  into  one 
territorial  lump  and  called  Wisconsin. 

The  governmental  history  of  Wisconsin  up  to  this  time  em- 
braces one  hundred  and  sixty-six  years,  during  which  the  French 
were  in  control  ninety  years;  the  English  thirty-six,  and  the 
Americans  forty^at  least  nominally.  During  all  but  a  quarter  of 
a  century  of  this  period,  the  seat  of  government  was  so  remote 
that  this  distant  province  was  practically  under  no  civil  juris- 
diction, although  at  times  military  rule  prevailed  in  the  centers  of 


184  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

population.  Prom  the  year  1671,  when  St.  Lusson  with  spectacular 
pomp  took  possession  of  the  Wisconsin  region,  till  in  1660  the  fleur- 
de-lis  was  lowered  in  the  forest  stockades,  twelve  French  governors 
had  exercised  jurisdiction: 

1.  Daniel  de  Remy  de  Courcelle  (Knight),  1671-1672. 

2.  Louis  de  Buade,  Count  de  Paluan  and  de  Frontenac,  1672-16S2,  and 
again  1689-1698. 

3.  La  Febvre  de  la  Barre,  1682-1685. 

4.  Jacques  Rene  de  Brisay,   Marquis  de  Denonville,   1685-1689. 

5.  Louis  Hector  de  Calliere  (Knight),  1699-1703. 

6.  Phillip  de  Rigaud,   Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,   1703-1725. 

7.  Charles  le  Moyne,  Baron  de  Longueuil,  1725-1726,  and  again  in  1752. 

8.  Charles  Marquis  de  Beauharnois,  1726-1747. 

9.  Rolland  Michel  Barrin,  Count  de  la  Galissoniere,  1747-1749. 

10.  Jacques  Pierre  de  Taffanel,    Marquis  de  la  Jonquiere,   1749-1752. 

11.  Marquis  Duquesne   de  Menneville,   1752-1755. 

12.  Pierre  Rigaud,   Marquis  de  Vaudreuil-Cavegnal,  1755-1760. 

From  the  occupancy  by  the  British  of  the  tumble-down  Fort 
St.  Francis  at  Green  Bay,  rechristened  Fort  Edward  Augustus  by 
them,  till  Jay's  treaty  compelled  British  evacuation  in  1796,  the 
governors  of  this  region  followed  each  other  every  few  years  in  this 
order: 

1.  Gen.  Jeffrey  Amherst,  1760-1763. 

2.  Gen.   James   Murray,   1763-1766. 

3.  Palius  Emeline  Irvine   (three  months),   1766. 

4.  Guy  Carlton   (lieutenant-governor),    1766-1770. 

5.  Hector  T.    Cramahe   (president   council),    1770-1774. 

6.  Guy  Carlton,  1774-1778. 

7.  Gen.   Frederick  Haldimand  (lieutenant-governor),  1778-1784. 

8.  Henry  Hamilton   (lieutenant-governor),  1784. 

9.  Henry  Hope  (president  council),  1785. 

10.  Guy  Carlton,   Lord  Dorchester,  1785-1792. 

11.  John   Graves   Simcoe   (lieutenant-governor),   1792-1796. 

The  evacuation  of  this  region  left  an  immense  territory  to  be 
governed  by  the  United  States  as  a  national  domain.  Under  the 
celebrated  ordinance  of  1787,  provision  was  made  for  Its  govern- 
ment. Though  constructively  under  the  jurisdiction  of  American 
governors,  what  is  now  Wisconsin  was  actually  ruled  (if  it  could 
be  said  to  have  been  governed  at  all)  by  foreign  officers  till  1796. 
In  fact,  until  some  time  after  the  war  of  1812,  the  scattered  inhab- 
itants of  Wisconsin  did  not  know,  and  doubtless  did  not  care, 
under  what  governmental  jurisdiction  they  were.  At  Green  Bay  and 
Prairie  du  Chien  two  pompous  functionaries  claimed  to  hold  com- 
missions as  justices  of  the  peace;  this  was  the  extent  of  government 
representation  for  many  years.  It  would  doubtless  have  puzzled 
even  these  commissioners  of  the  law  had  they  been  asked  to  tell 
the  name  of  the  governor.  Until  given  separate  territorial  rights, 
Wisconsin  was  an  orphan  in  the  neglectful  charge,  first  of  the 
Northwest  territory,  then  of  the  territories  of  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
Michigan.    These  were  the  American  territorial  governors: 


The  Story  of  the  State.  185 


1  Arthur   St.    Clair,    Northwest  territory,   1787-1800. 

2.  William  Henry  Harrison,  Indiana  territory,  1800-1809. 

3.  Ninian  Edwards,  Illinois  territory,  1809-1818. 

4.  Lewis  Cass,  Michigan  territory,  1818-1831. 

5  George  B.   Porter,  Michigan  territory,   1831-1834. 

6.  Stevens  T.   Mason,   Michigan  territory,  1834-1836. 

7  Henry  Dodge,  Wisconsin  territory,  1836-1841. 

g'.  James  Duane  Doty,  Wisconsin  territory,  1811-1844. 

9  Nathanial  P.  Tallmadge,  Wisconsin  territory,  1S44-184D. 
10.    Henry  Dodge,  Wisconsin  territory,  1845-1848. 

Congress  passed  the  act  creating  the  territory  of  Wisconsin 
Anril  20  1836,  to  take  effect  July  3  of  the  same  year.  Andrew  Jack- 
ton  wa;  president  of  the  United  States,  and  he  commissioned 
Henry  Dodge,  who  was  a  Democrat,  as  the  first  governor  of  the  new 
territory;  Charles  Dunn  as  chief  justice,  and  William  C.  Frazer  and 
D^vid  Ii^in  as  associates.  George  W.  Jones  was  elected  con- 
gressional delegate,  and  a  legislature  was  chosen  ««^«^f  ^f  f 
thirteen  members  of  the  council  and  twice  that  number  of  rep  e- 
sentatives.    Their  first  session  was  held  at  Belmont,  m  Iowa  county, 

""'^'Thrsesston' of  the  legislature  attracted  to  the  little  cluster  of 
houses  known  as  Belmont  all  the  politicians  of  the  territoiT^  The 
total  population  of  the  territory  at  this  time,  including  Iowa,  was 
but  22  218;  there  were  important  matters  to  be  determined,  however 
and  the  interest  in  the  session  was  great.  At  this  time  no  a  rail 
had  been  laid  in  the  territory;  instead  of  riding  to  ^he  capito^ .n  a 
parlor  car,  with  a  bundle  of  passes  in  his  pocket,  the  legislator 
came  on  horseback,  or  in  any  sort  of  conveyance  most  convenient 
It  was  a  picturesque  crowd  of  men,  and  some  of  t^ie  speeches  tha 
were  made  were  picturesque  too,  judging  from  a  specimen  that  has 

'^^^..ri^^^C^frman:  I  have  waited  patiently  till  the  doctors  and 
lawyers  got  through,  to  make  a  speech  on  the  location  of  the  seat 
of  government.  I  was  raised  in  the  wiles  of  Ellinois.  and  ust  to 
weai  a  leather  huntin'  shirt  and  sleep  under  a  buffalo  rug.  I  war 
edicated  in  the  woods.  The  yearly  part  of  my  life  was  ^ent  m 
trackin'  Ingens;  but  it  is  harder  tracken  these  gentlemen.  We  have 
envued  the  gentlemen  to  come  up  to  the  troft  and  argy  the  ques  ion 
on  its  merits,  but  as  the  Yankee  said,  they  squerm  and  won  t  come 

""^  NatmXl'the  legislation  of  greatest  interest  at  the  first  session 
was  the  location  of  the  territorial  capitol.  Land  boomei-s  were  on 
ha^d  with  attractive  plats  of  cities  that  existed  on  paper  only  urging 
the  selection  of  their  townsites.  A  great  scramble  ^^y^f'^^^ 
ensued  and  local  feeling  was  wrought  up  to  a  great  P^^ch  of  excite- 
ment A  list  of  the  rival  claimants  included  Belmont,  Belleview. 
Cassville  Dubuque.  Fond  du  Lac,  Green  Bay,  Helena,  Madison. 
Minera    Point,   Milwaukee.  Koshkonong,   Racine,   Wisconsm   City. 


186 


Leading  Events  of  ^Yisconsill  History. 


Portage,  "Wisconsinapolis,  Peru  and  Prairie  du  Chien.  The  points 
that  were  pushed  most  vigorously  were  Madison,  Belmont,  Fond  du 
Lac  and  Cassville. 

By  a  vote  of  7  to  6  the  council  determined  upon  Madison  as 
the  seat  of  government  after  a  long  and  exciting  struggle,  and  the 
house  of  representatives  ratified  the  choice  by  a  vote  of  16  to  10. 
Ugly  rumors  were  in  circulation  as  to  the  arguments  that  proved 
most  potent  in  the  selection  of  the  capitol. 

"On  the  adjournment  of  the  legislature,"  says  a  contemporary 
account,  "quite  a  number  of  gentlemen — I  never  learned  how  many 


Madison  in  1836. 

Showing  the   Log   Cabin   in  Which   Vinnie   Ream,    Sculptress,    Is   Said   to   Have 

Been  Born. 


— belonging  to  that  body,  went  to  their  homes  the  owners  of  sundry 
corner  lots  in  a  new  town,  and  the  seat  of  government  of  Wisconsin 
was  permanently  located  at  Madison." 

It  was  the  influence  of  James  Duane  Doty  that  located  the 
capitol  in  the  virgin  forest  between  Lakes  Mendota  and  Monona. 
He  controlled  about  a  thousand  acres  purchased  by  himself  and  the 
governor  of  Michigan,  and  he  determined  that  this  place  should  be 
selected  for  the  capital  of  the  state.  Accordingly  he  hired  a 
surveyor  to  accompany  him,  and  they  made  the  trip  from  Green 
Bay  on  horseback.  The  surveyor  carried  his  compass  and  chain, 
and  Doty  a  green  blanket  and  a  shotgun.  The  shotgun  was  an 
important  part  of  the  outfit,  for  upon  it  the  two  travelers  depended 
for  their  forage.     On  the  site  of  the  future  city  they  found  a  little 


The  Story  of  the  State.  187 

log  cabin.  From  this  nucleus  the  surveyor  drew  plans  that  dazzled 
the  legislators  with  the  magnificence  of  the  future  city  for  which 
they  voted. 

No  sooner  had  Madison  been  decided  upon  as  the  location  of  the 
capitol  than  the  owners  of  the  site  started  a  boom  that  was  intended 
to  speedily  build  a  city  there.  Elaborately  engraved  plans  showing 
houses  and  costly  public  edifices  were  shown  on  these  plans,  and 
descriptions  were  given  of  seven  cities  located  near  each  other  In  the 
region  of  the  Four  Lakes.  Madison  City  was  represented  to  be  the 
metropolis;  adjacent  was  the  City  of  the  Four  Lakes;  a  short  distance 
beyond  and  near  each  other,  the  maps  and  plans  located  the  cities 
of  North  Madison,  East  Madison,  West  Madison,  South  Madison, 
City  of  the  First  Lake  and  City  of  the  Second  Lake.  There  was  a 
splendid  engraved  plan  of  each  of  these  cities,  with  all  its  "squares, 
streets,  institutions  and  temples." 

Travelers  who  were  attracted  to  the  Four  Lakes  by  these  allur- 
ing pictures  were  greatly  astonished  to  learn  that  these  seven  cities 
had  shrunk  by  the  time  of  their  arrival  to  one  small  log  cabin  in  the 
woods. 

"This  was  Madison  City,"  says  the  amusing  account  of  one  of 
these  travelers  who  sought  to  find  the  seven  cities  and  found  a 
hastily  patched-up  log  hut  consisting  of  one  room  about  twelve  feet 
square.  "Humble  as  it  was,  it  concentrated  within  itself  all  the 
urban  importance  of  the  seven  cities  we  had  come  so  far  to  admire, 
and  to  which — according  to  our  engraved  plans — Ninevah  of  old, 
Thebes  with  its  hundred  gates,  and  Persepolis  were  but  baby-houses. 
Not  another  dwelling  was  there  in  the  whole  country,  and  this 
wretched  contrivance  had  only  been  put  up  within  the  last  four 
weeks." 

During  the  twelve  years  of  Wisconsin's  territorial  era,  the 
chief  incidents  were  as  follows: 

1836— Seventh  territorial  legislature  of  Michigan  met  at  Green  Bay  for  the 
first  and  only  time,  and  memorialized  congress  to  form  a  separate  territory  west 
of  Lake  Michigan.  The  territory  of  Wisconsin  established  to  take  effect  July  3: 
Henry  Dodge,  governor;  Charles  Dunn,  chief  justice;  John  S.  Horner,  secretary. 
Meeting  of  first  legislative  assembly  at  Belmont.  Gold  excitement  at  Kewaunee. 
First  school  in  jMilwaukee  opened.  Publication  of  Milwaukee  Advertiser  begun. 
Land  oflftce  established  in  Milwaukee.  Three  banks  incorporated,  one  at  Mil- 
waukee, one  at  Dubuque  and  one  at  Mineral  Point,  all  of  which  subsequently 
became  bankrupt.  Four  million  acres  of  land  ceded  by  the  Menomonee  Indians 
by    treaty. 

1837 — Five  nostofiices  established:  at  Chase's  Point,  Moundville,  Madison, 
Elk  Grove  and  Cassville,  and  one  during  the  summer  at  Watertown.  Laying  of 
the  capitol  corner  stone  at  Madison  in  July.  Second  legislative  session  held  at 
Burlington  (now  Iowa).  Nov.  6.  Milwaukee  and  Rock  River  Canal  company  in- 
corporated.    Imprisonment  for  debt  abolished. 

1838 — Census  taken,  showing  population  of  18,149  in  that  part  of  Wisconsin 
east  of  the  Missi.sippi  river.  James  Duane  Doty  elected  delegate  to  congress, 
defeating  George  W.  Jones  and  Thomas  P.  Burnett.  State  bank  incorporated. 
Legislature  met  in  Madison  for  the  first  time.    Congressional  appropriation  for  a 


188  Leading  Events  of  M'isconsin  History. 

railroad  survey  from  Milwaukee  to  Prairie  du  Chien.  Eighty  postoffices  in  oper- 
ation in  the  territory  (twenty-seven  have  since  been  discontinued  or  have  different 
names.) 

1839 — Doty  reelected  delegate  to  congress,  defeating  Byron  Kilbourn  and 
Thomas  P.  Burnett.  Great  Indian  battle  in  Northern  Wisconsin  between  Sioux 
and  Objibwas,  200  being  killed.  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  company's  bank 
(Alexander  Mitchell's)  opened  in  Milwaukee.  First  political  state  convention 
(Democratic)   held  at  Madison,    in  June. 

1840 — A  population  of  30,747  shown  by  the  federal  census.  First  divorce 
granted  by  the  legislature.  First  brew  of  beer  at  Milwaukee.  "Bridge  war"  at 
Milwaukee. 

1841— Gov.  Dodge  removed  from  office  by  President  John  T>ier,  and  James 
Duane  Doty  appointed  in  his  place.  Bank  of  Mineral  Point  robbed  by  its  officers, 
and  about  $200,000  loss  sustained  by  depositors.  Whig  state  convention  held  at 
Madison,  in  February,  for  organization.  Henry  Dodge,  Democrat,  elected  as  a 
delegate  to  congress,   defeating  Jonathan  E.   Arnold,   "^Tiig. 

1842 — During  a  debate  in  the  legislature  James  R.  Vineyard  shot  Charles  C. 
P.  Arndt  dead;  tried  for  manslaughter  and  acquitted.  Another  census  taken, 
showing  a  population  of  46,678.  Gov.  Doty  refused  to  recognize  the  legislature, 
and  congress  appe^ed  to.  Proclamation  of  Gov.  Doty  asking  for  a  vote  on  "the 
formation  of  a  permanent  government  for  the  state  of  Wiskonsan";  for,  619; 
against,  1,843.  Divorces  refused  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Wisconsin 
legislation. 

1843— Henry  Dodge  elected  to  congress  as  a  Democrat,  defeating  George  W. 
Hickox,  WTiig  candidate.  Congress  requested  by  the  legislature  to  remove  Gov. 
Doty  for  refusing  to  recognize  them. 

1844_>jathanlel  Tallmadge  appointed  governor  in  place  of  Doty.  The  Wis- 
consin Phalanx  (a  commune)  established  near  the  site  of  the  city  of  Ripon 
(Ceresco  Valley).  Unsuccessful  attempt  in  the  legislature  to  restrict  negro  suf- 
frage. Belligerent  nullification  resolutions  adopted  and  sent  to  congress,  on  ac- 
count of  boundary  disputes. 

1845— Henry  Dodge  again  appointed  governor.  Resolution  adopted  by  the 
legislature  that  th'e  name  of  the  territory  should  be  spelled  "Wisconsin."  Mor- 
gan L.  Martin  elected  delegate  to  congress,  defeating  James  Collins,  Whig,  and 
Edward  D.  Holton,  Anti-Slavery  candidate.  Mormon  colony  at  Voree  in  Wal- 
worth county  established  by  James  Jesse  Strang. 

1846— Vote  taken  In  April  to  form  a  state  government,  and  the  proposition 
carried  by  a  large  majority.  A  census  taken  showing  a  population  of  155.217. 
Constitutional  convention  held.  Congress  authorized  a  state  government,  August 
Conflict  between  whites  and  Indians  at  iluscoda;  four  Indians  shot.  Enlistment 
of  Wisconsin  men  in  Illinois  companies  for  the  Mexican  war. 

1847— Constitution  submitted  to  the  people  and  rejected.  Second  constitu 
tional  convention.  A  population  of  210,546  shown  by  census.  Milwaukee  &  Wau- 
kesha Railroad  company  chartered  (first  in  Wisconsin). 

1848— Constitution  ratified  by  'a  majority  of  10,000.  Wisconsin  admitted  to 
statehood.   May  29. 

Some  of  the  episodes  that  occurred  during  Wisconsin's  terri- 
torial history  excited  great  interest  outside  the  immediate  locality, 
among  them:  The  founding  of  a  Mormon  stake  of  Zion  at  Voree; 
the  establishment  of  the  Wisconsin  Phalanx  at  Ceresco— a  sort  of 
Brook  Farm  experiment;  the  adoption  of  resolutions  by  the  legis- 
lature declaring  that  if  congress  did  not  restore  Wisconsin  the 
boundaries  guaranteed  by  the  organic  act  governing  the  Northwest, 
it  would  become  "a  state  outside  the  Union." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    MODERN     UTOPIA. 

OxTT  of  a  literary  society's  debate  in  the  young  village  of  South- 
port  (now  Kenosha)  grew  an  interesting  experiment  in  communism, 
that  flourished  for  five  years  in  Wisconsin.  About  the  year  1843  a 
wave  of  what  was  called  Fourierism  swept  over  the  country.  Men 
of  keen  intellect  were  attracted  by  the  Utopian  plan  of  speculative 
writers  who  urged  the  formation  of  communities  where  perfect 
democracy  would  prevail.  Horace  Greeley's  Tribune  took  up  the 
attempt  to  "spiritualize  washtubs  and  to  put  the  pitchfork  in  the 
hand  of  philosophy."  Among  those  who  read  the  articles  were  a 
number  of  New  England  and  New  York  pioneers  who  had  made 
their  home  in  Southport.  They  were  people  of  intelligence  and  of 
thrifty  character.  The  question  was  discussed  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Franklin  lyceum,  whose  membership  included  Charles  Durkee,  the 
first  Free-Soil  member  of  the  United  States  senate;  Louis  P.  Harvey, 
one  of  Wisconsin's  war  governors;  Warren  Chase,  a  conspicuous 
character  in  the  early  politics  of  the  state;  Lester  Rounds,  and  many 
others  who  became  well  known  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
state. 

"Does  the  system  of  Fourier  present  a  practical  plan  for  such  a 
reorganization  of  society  as  will  guard  against  our  social  evils?" 
was  the  topic  of  debate  at  a  meeting  of  the  Lyceum  held  one 
evening  in  November,  1843. 

Fourier  was  a  Frenchman  who  had  conceived  a  scheme  for 
dividing  mankind  into  groups,  destined  eventually  to  come  under  a 
unitary  government  with  but  one  language,  and  one  system.  Bach 
association,  or  phalanstery,  according  to  his  plan,  was  to  comprise 
400  families,  or  1,800  persons,  which  number  he  had  figured  out 
included  the  entire  circle  of  human  capacities.  "These  should  live 
in  one  immense  edifice,  in  the  center  of  a  large  and  highly  cultivated 
domain,  and  furnished  with  workshops,  studios  and  all  the  appli- 
ances of  industry  and  art,  as  well  as  all  the  sources  of  amusement 
and  pleasure." 

The  plan  of  Fourier  contemplated  this  division  of  resources  and 
product:    Five  parts  to  labor,  four  to  capital  and  three  to  talent. 

This,  in  brief,  was  the  Utopian  scheme  that  appealed  to  the 
good  people  of  Southport  the  beginning  of  the  year  1844.  A  few 
leading  men  drew  up  a  plan  of  organization,  styled  the  association 
"The  Wisconsin  Phalanx"  and  found  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  a 
large  number  of  shares  at  $25  each.  Ebenezer  Childs  of  Green  Bay 
was  employed  to  select  a  spot  suitable  for  the  home  of  the  Phalanx, 
and  he  recommended  to  the  visionaries  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of 

189 


190 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


land  in  the  valley  of  Ceresco.  It  seemed  as  if  this  place  had  been 
designed  especially  for  such  a  community.  Its  sylvan  attractiveness 
appealed  to  the  artistic  sense  and  love  of  nature,  its  fertile  soil  gave 
promise  of  splendid  harvests,  its  water  facilities  and  timbered  hills 
invited  the  erection  of  mills  and  factories. 

With  the  sum  of  $800  ensconced  in  a  wallet,  Warren  Chase  went 
to  Green  Bay  and  entered  several  quarter  sections  of  the  lands  in  the 
snug  valley  of  Ceresco. 

In  the  meantime  the  Southport  communists  had  been  actively 
preparing  to  go  to  the  land  of  promise.  Tents  had  been  secured, 
and  provided  with  provisions,  tools  and  cattle,  the  vanguard 
left  Southport   one  Monday  morning,  with   a  parting   cheer   from 


Ruins  op  the  Phalanx  Long  House  at  Ripon. 
From  a   Recent  Photograph. 

their  comrades.  One  Saturday  evening  the  twenty  persons  who 
formed  this  advance  guard — nineteen  men  and  one  boy — came  to 
the  banks  of  Silver  creek  and  pitched  their  tents.  They  were  on 
the  site  of  the  future  city  of  Ripon.  The  next  morning  was  Sunday, 
May  27,  1844,  a  date  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  Phalanx,  for  on 
this  day  they  entered  the  valley  destined  to  become  their  home. 

The  season  was  well  advanced,  and  early  the  next  morning  the 
pioneers  of  the  new  idea  energetically  began  their  settlement.  While 
some  of  them  broke  ground  for  planting,  others  dug  cellars  and 
reared  the  skeletons  of  frame  dwellings  for  housing  the  families 
that  were  soon  to  come.  A  frost  destroyed  their  growing  vegetables, 
but  undauntC'd  they  replanted  corn  and  potatoes,  beans,  buckwheat 
and  turnips.    In  their  three  tents  they  made  shift  to  sleep  with  as 


The  Story  of  the  State.  191 

much  comfort  as  beds  on  the  ground  would  permit,  and  they  ate  in 
the  open  air  the  meals  cooked  for  them  by  an  old  Scotch  sailor. 
The  rough  boards  on  which  the  viands  were  served  was  beneath 
the  shade  of  spreading  branches,  and  answered  well  enough  for  the 
purpose  except  when  it  rained;  but  they  cheerfully  accustomed 
themselves  to  eat  in  a  standing  position  when  it  rained,  because 
"they  could  thus  shed  the  rain  easier." 

The  stars  and  stripes  fluttered  from  a  high  liberty  pole  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  and  the  little  community  celebrated  the  day  with 
much  enthusiascm.  By  this  time  about  twenty  families  were  occupy- 
ing the  half-finished  houses.  They  ate  at  a  common  table,  the  base- 
ment of  one  of  the  liouses  serving  for  kitchen  and  dining  hall. 
A  sawmill  was  constructed  on  the  bank  of  Silver  creek,  and  a  dam 
was  thrown  across  the  stream,  but  winter  set  in  before  the  mill 
could  be  operated.  The  oak  boards  for  their  houses  and  the 
shingles  for  the  roof  had  all  been  made  by  hand. 

While  the  members  of  the  Phalanx  were  shivering  in  their 
winter-bound  valley  homes,  their  leader  was  in  Madison  lobbying 
for  a  charter.  The  territorial  legislators  were  somewhat  nonplussed 
at  being  asked  to  grant  a  charter  of  such  an  unusual  sort,  but 
finally  granted  it,  substantially  as  the  Phalanx  had  agreed.  These 
were  the  salient  features: 

Property  to  be  held  in  stock,  numbered  in  shares  of  $25  each. 

Quantity  of  land  limited  to  forty  acres  for  each  person  belonging 
to  the  corporation. 

No  person  permitted  to  join  except  by  unanimous  vote  of  the 
Board  of  Managers  (president,  vice-president  and  nine  council-men). 

Annual  settlements  of  profits  made  on  the  following  basis: 
One-fourth  credited  as  dividend  for  stock;  remaining  three-fourths 
credited  to  labor. 

Free  public  schools  to  be  maintained  nine  months  of  the  year, 
capital  paying  three-fourths  of  the  cost,  and  labor  one-fourth. 

Toleration  of  religious  opinion,  no  member  to  be  taxed,  unless 
voluntarily,  for  the  support  of  any  minister  of  religion. 

Protected  by  d  charter,  the  Phalanx  proceeded  to  exemplify  the 
principles  of  Fourier.  The  "long  house"  was  constructed,  described 
as  being  400  feet  in  length  and  consisting  of  "two  rows  of  tenements, 
with  a  hall  between,  under  one  roof."  This  was  the  common  dining 
hall,  the  place  of  amusement  and  the  seat  of  culture.  The  families 
took  their  meals  at  the  common  table,  but  retired  to  their  individual 
cabins  when  they  pleased.  Board  at  the  phalanstery  was  reduced  in 
cost  to  63  cents  per  week.  The  "class  of  usefulness"  was  divided 
into  three  groups — agricultural,  mechanical  and  educational.  These 
were  subdivided  as  necessity  or  convenience  dictated.  All  labor  was 
voluntary,  but  of  course  credit  was  given  to  each  in  proportion  to 
actual  work  accomplished.     An  exact  account  of  labor  was  kept. 


192  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


There  was  a  weekly  programme  for  dividing  the  evenings  between 
business  and  recreation: 

Monday  evening — Business  of  the  council. 

Tuesday  evening — Meeting  of  the  Philolathian  society,  with  dis- 
cussion on  current  topics,  and  reading  of  "The  Gleaner." 

Wednesday  evening — Singing. 

Thursday  evening — Dancing. 

Friday — No  meeting. 

Saturday  evening — Hearing  of  detailed  reports  from  the  foremen. 

"The  Gleaner"  was  a  paper,  bearing  this  motto:  "Let  the 
gleaner  go  forth  and  glean  and  gather  up  the  fragments,  that  noth- 
ing be  lost." 

Enthusiasm  and  industry  brought  great  prosperity — for  awhile. 
Applications  for  membership  poured  in,  but  few  were  admitted. 
By  the  close  of  the  second  season  thirty  families  were  enrolled,  and 
the  property  of  the  Phalanx  was  valued  at  $27,725.02.  One  hundred 
acres  of  wheat  had  been  harvested,  besides  sixty  of  corn,  fifty-seven 
of  oats  and  other  crops  in  proportion.  Ceresco  had  been  well  named; 
Ceres,  patroness  of  agriculture,  smiled  upon  her  own.  The  appraisal 
the  year  following  gave  a  valuation  of  $32,564.18,  and  net  profit  of 
the  year  was  $9,029.73.  This  gave  a  dividend  to  stock  of  7%  per  cent. 
and  of  7.3  cents  per  hour  to  labor. 

"There  was  a  faithful  attempt  to  carry  out  the  complicated  plan 
of  Fourier  with  regard  to  the  personal  credits  and  the  equalization 
of  labor  by  reducing  all  to  what  was  called  the  class  of  usefulness," 
says  an  account  by  Everett  Chamberlain.  "Under  this  arrangement, 
some  of  the  more  skillful  workmen  were  able  to  score  as  many  as 
twenty-five  hours'  labor  in  one  day — a  paradox  in  time-keeping 
which  was  exceedingly  amusing  to  the  skillful  ones,  and  correspond- 
ingly perplexing  to  the  unskillful,  since  everybody  drew  stock  or 
cash  on  settlement  day  in  proportion  to  his  credit  on  the  daily 
record." 

In  his  first  annual  report,  the  president  noted  that  the  Phalanx 
workers  had  performed  in  all  one  hundred  and  two  thousand,  seven 
hundred  and  sixty  hours  of  labor,  and  found  time  besides  to  culti- 
vate vocal  and  instrurhental  music,  and  "our  young  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen have  occasionally  engaged  in  cotillions,  especially  on  wed- 
ding occasions,  of  which  we  have  had  three  the  past  summer." 

While  seemingly  the  experiment  of  the  Phalanx  was  a  proven 
success,  the  seeds  of  disintegration  had  been  sown.  Although  the 
cost  of  board  never  exceeded  75  cents  per  week,  the  common  table 
soon  lost  many  of  its  diners,  the  families  preferring  to  do  their  own 
cooking  at  home.  The  settlement  of  the  lands  adjacent  awoke  the 
spirit  of  land  speculation  in  some  of  the  thrifty  members  of  the 
Phalanx;  a  couple  of  free  love  devotees  came  to  the  community  and 
made  a  few  converts,  as  did  a  lecturer  on  spiritualism.     The  com- 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


193 


munity  also  got  into  a  tangle  with  the  founders  of  Ripon,  and 
the  acute  angles  of  that  city's  streets,  with  their  three-cornered 
buildings  yet  attest  the  existence  of  this  rivalry.  In  the  end  Ripon 
triumphed  by  using  political  influence  and  wresting  the  postoffice 
from  Ceresco,  the  mail  bags  being  carried  in  triumph  to  the  newer 
settlement.  There  were  other  internal  troubles — a.  difference  of  opin- 
ion as  to  the  proper  apportionment  of  work  and  emoluments. 

The  end  came  in  1850,  when  authority  was  received  from  the 
legislature  to  disband.  This  was  done,  and  nearly  $40,000  was  dis- 
tributed among  the  members. 


Gov.  DOTY's  Residence  at  Shantytowm. 

(James  Duane  Doty  was  doubtless  the  ablest  of  Wisconsin's  Territorial  Gov- 
ernors, though  by  no  means  the  most  popular.  He  was  a  New  Yorker  and  came 
West  with  Lewis  Cass,  whose  secretary  he  was.  In  1829  he  made  Green  Bay  his 
home.    He  was  Governor  of  Utah  Territory  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1865.) 

Another  experiment  in  socialism  that  came  to  grief  in  Wiscon- 
sin was  the  Utilitarian  association,  located  in  Waukesha  county. 
Its  origin  was  in  overcrowded  London,  where  in  1843  a  bookbinder 
named  Campbell  Smith  urged  the  formation  of  communities  to 
colonize  tracts  of  land  in  the  new  world.  All  members  were  to  con- 
tribute equally  and  live  at  common  expense.  A  200-acre  farm 
located  near  Mukwonago  was  purchased,  and  Smith  led  his  band 
thither  in  1844.  To  these  Londoners  who  had  breathed  the  aid  of 
crowded  tenement  houses,  the  idea  of  riding  around  a  farm  as  large 
as  Regent's  park  was  inspiriting,  and  they  came  with  high  hopes  and 
happy  hearts.  The  community  lasted  about  a  year,  and  then  dis- 
banded. This  is  the  reason  given  by  George  Campbell,  one  of  the 
communists: 

"The  members  were  dissatisfied.  There  was  no  head  to  the 
concern,  and  everyone  wanted  to  do  as  he  chose.    According  to  the 


194  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

by-laws  a  meeting  was  held  every  evening  after  supper  to  decide 
what  work  should  be  done  the  next  day.  They  did  no  good,  i 
remember  how  Campbell  Smith  used  to  sit  in  his  chair,  smoking  his 
pipe  and  say:  'Well,  I  guess  we  had  better  hoe  the  potatoes  to- 
morrow; they  need  it,'  and  the  others  would  sit  still  and  never  say 
a  word.  The  result  was  that  next  morning  the  potatoes  remained 
among  the  weeds.  One  would  do  this  and  another  that.  After 
awhile  we  realized  that  we  couldn't  farm,  so  we  sold  the  tract,  and 
everyone  went  his  own  way." 

Somewhat  similar  in  scope  to  the  Wisconsin  Phalanx,  though 
not  as  successful  nor  as  long-lived,  was  the  Spring  Farm  association. 
It  had  its  origin  in  the  village  of  Sheboygan  Falls  in  the  year  1845, 
and  was  a  reflex  of  the  same  wave  of  socialism  which  brought  into 
being  the  community  at  Ceresco.  After  a  good  deal  of  discussion  on 
the  subject  of  socialism,  ten  families  agreed  to  try  the  plan  of 
Fourier,  and  formed  an  association.  There  were  differences  of 
opinion  at  the  start.  Some  of  the  members  insisted  on  settling  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan;  others  wanted  to  get  away  from  civili- 
zation, and  picked  out  a  tract  twenty  miles  inland.  Being  unable 
to  reconcile  their  differences,  the  communists  split.  The  lake  shore 
association  had  a  fitful  existence  and  gave  up  the  struggle.  The 
Spring  Farm  association  adopted  the  motto,  "Union,  Equal  Rights 
and  Social  Guarantees,"  and  planted  its  standard  in  a  wooded  spot 
whose  springs  of  water  gave  to  the  community  its  name  of  Spring 
Farm  association.  The  six  families  kept  together  for  three  years. 
Among  them  were  farmers,  blacksmiths  and  carpenters.  They  con- 
structed a  unitary  building  twenty  feet  by  thirty  in  dimensions,  and 
comprising  two  stories.  They  had  thirty  acres  of  land  under 
cultivation. 

"We  dissolved  by  mutual  agreement,"  one  of  the  members 
explained  in  accounting  for  the  dissolution.  "We  were  not  troubled 
with  dishonest  management,  and  generally  agreed  in  all  our  affairs. 
The  reasons  for  failure  were  poverty,  diversity  of  habits  and  dis- 
positions, and  disappointments  through  failure  of  harvest." 

Manitowoc  county  is  at  the  present  day  the  home  of  a  com- 
munistic enterprise,  started  many  years  ago  by  a  Catholic  priest 
from  Baden.  It  flourished  for  many  years  under  his  supervision, 
as  he  practically  controlled  its  affairs  and  his  people  obediently  fol- 
lowed his  counsel  in  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  affairs.  Since  his 
death  the  principles  of  communism  have  been  considerably  modified. 

Of  the  numerous  experiments  in  America  on  the  pattern  pre- 
scribed by  Fourier  and  Owen,  the  Wisconsin  Phalanx  had  the  longest 
life,  with  but  two  exceptions.  In  material  prosperity,  it  was 
exceeded  by  none.  Although  doubtless  it  was  this  prosperity  that  led 
to  the  break-up  by  introducing  the  spirit  of  cupidity  among  its 
members,  there  were  other  serious  causes  of  disturbs.nce.    The  joint 


<>:-i^i<'. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  195 


boarding  house  idea  was  a  source  of  contention.  There  was  tout  a 
small  majority  in  its  favor  when  the  decision  was  reached  to  build 
the  dwellings  in  unitary  blocks  adapted  to  a  common  boarding 
house  instead  of  in  isolated  style  adapted  to  the  separate  family 
and  single  living. 

Accounts  are  agreed  that  the  community  table  was  set  with 
plain  but  substantial  food,  much  like  the  tables  of  farmers  in  newly- 
settled  agricultural  regions.  And"  yet,  despite  the  cheapness  of  the 
board  to  the  boarders,  the  common  table  was  soon  surrounded  with 
many  empty  chairs. 

"There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  board,"  President 
Warren  Chase  wrote  to  The  Harbinger,  Jan.  8,  1848.  "Most  of  our 
families  cook  their  board  in  their  rooms  from  choice  under  present 
circumstances;  some  because  they  use  no  meat  and  do  not  choose 
to  sit  at  a  table  plentifully  supplied  with  beef,  pork  and  mutton; 
others  because  they  choose  to  have  their  children  sit  at  the  table 
with  them,  to  regulate  their  diet,  etc.,  which  our  circumstances  will 
not  yet  permit  at  our  public  table;  others  because  they  want  to  ask 
a  blessing,  etc.;  and  others  because  their  manner  of  cooking  and 
habits  of  living  have  become  so  fixed  as  to  have  sufl5cient  influence 
to  require  their  continuance." 


:  CHAPTER  X. 

A    TRAGEDY    IN    THE    CAPITOL. 

Much  acrimonious  discussion  was  excited  during  the  session  of 
the  territorial  legislature  in  1842  by  the  nominations  for  office  sub- 
mitted by  Gov.  Doty.  On  the  7th  of  February  the  bitterness  thus 
engendered  caused  one  member  of  the  council  to  shoot  a  fellow 
member  dead.  James  R.  Vineyard  represented  Iowa  county  and 
Charles  C.  P.  Arndt  was  the  member  from  Brown.  They  were  warm 
personal  friends  until  the  scramble  for  office  led  them  to  take  oppo- 


WiscoNsiN's  First  Capitol. 
The  Old  Building  at  Belmont,  Where  the  Legislature  Met  in  1836,  is  Still  Standing. 


site  sides.  The  govei'nor  had  sent  in  the  name  of  Enos  S.  Baker  for 
sheriff  of  Grant  county.  A  bitter  debate  followed.  Arndt  made  a 
sarcastic  statement  concerning  his  colleague  Vineyard,  and  the  latter 
retorted  in  anger  that  the  statement  was  a  falsehood.  Order  was 
restored,  and  a  motion  was  made  to  adjourn.  Before  the  vote  could 
be  announced,  a  confusion  of  voices  in  the  neighborhood  of  Vine- 
yard's desk  interrupted  proceedings.  Words  in  a  high  key  were 
passed,  and  most  of  the  members  arose  to  crowd  around  the  dis- 
putants. 

"Order!  order!"  called  out  Moses  M.  Strong,  another  member, 

"Order  !  order  !"  repeated  the  president. 

196 


The  Story  of  the  State.  197 


Amid  much  confusion  tlie  council  adjourned.  Arndt  advanced 
again  towards  Vineyard's  deslt,  demanding  to  know  wlietlier  tlie 
latter  had  imputed  to  him  falsehood  in  his  remarks. 

"They  were  false,"  Vineyard  retorted. 

Arndt  struck  Vineyard  on  the  forehead.  The  report  of  a  pistol 
followed,  and  Arndt  reeled  towards  the  fireplace.  He  fell  into  the 
arms  of  a  fellow-memher  and  in  five  minutes  was  dead. 

Vineyard  surrendered  himself  to  the  sheriff.  His  wife  shared 
his  incarceration  in  jail  until  his  release  on  $10,000  bail.  Prom  his 
jail  quarters.  Vineyard  sent  his  resignation  to  the  council.  It  was 
not  accepted;  instead  he  was  expelled  by  a  vote  of  10  to  1  and  his 
seat  was  declared  vacant.  A  grand  jury  returned  a  bill  for  man- 
slaughter. He  was  tried,  and  the  jury  acquitted  him.  The  trial 
occurred  in  Green  county,  Vineyard  having  secured  a  change  of 
venue  from  Dane  on  the  ground  of  the  prejudice  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Strang's  stake  of  zion  at  voree. 

During  the  concluding  period  of  the  territorial  era,  an  attempt 
was  made  to  establish  a  stronghold  of  Mormonism  in  Wisconsin. 
Had  the  plans  of  one  James  Jesse  Strang  been  brought  to  fruition^ 
all  the  followers  of  the  Mormon  prophet,  Joseph  Smith,  would  have 
congregated  here  to  found  a  kingdom  and  to  "establish  an  inherit- 
ance forever."  The  scheme  miscarried;  in  the  end  Strang  forfeited 
his  life  and  his  deluded  followers  were  dispersed  by  violence.  Utah 
became  the  Mecca  of  Mormonism. 

When  the  Mormons  were  building  their  famous  temple  at  Nau- 
voo,  some  of  the  workmen  were  sent  to  the  forests  of  Wisconsin  ta 
hew  the  timbers  for  the  structure  and"  raft  them  down  the  Missis- 
sippi. As  they  passed  the  prairie  La  Crosse,  they  were  attracted 
by  the  pleasant  little  coulees  that  nestle  between  the  green  hills 
eastward  of  the  prairie.  Elder  Lyman  Wight  led  a  band  of  Mor- 
mons thither  in  1843  and  planted  the  first  Mormon  stake  of  Zion  ia 
Wisconsin.  The  little  valley  still  bears  the  name  of  Moi-mon  coulee; 
its  name  and  a  few  crumbling  ruins  of  masonry  are  all  the  vestiges 
that  remain  of  the  Mormon  occupation.  The  people  of  the  coulee 
and  the  rough  traders  of  the  prairie  had  frequent  collisions,  due  in 
part  to  the  rude  attentions  received  by  the  Mormon  women  from 
the  young  men  of  the  prairie.  A  bloody  feud  threatened  to  break 
out;  the  Mormons  prevented  it  by  abandoning  their  homes.  Rafts 
were  secretly  constructed,  and  under  cover  of  night  they  floated 
down  the  river  to  Nauvoo,  after  applying  the  torch  to  their  deserted 
homes. 

Itinerant  Mormon  preachers  sought  converts  among  the  people 
of  Burlington,  Racine  county,  early  in  the  year  1845.  An  eccentric 
young  lawyer  named  James  Jesse  Strang  became  interested  in  their 
talk  and  embraced  Mormonism  with  great  zeal.  Strang's  subsequent 
career  as  elder,  revelator,  prophet,  seer,  and  finally  as  king,  is  one 
of  the  strange  episodes  of  Western  history.  Before  coming  to  Wis- 
consin, Strang  lived  in  his  native  state.  New  York.  During  his  boy- 
hood, he  was  regarded  as  a  child  of  odd  characteristics,  and  as  he 
grew  to  manhood  his  eccentricities  became  more  pronounced.  While 
working  on  a  farm,  he  borrowed  law  books  and  industriously 
applied  himself  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar.  His  disposition  was  too 
restless  to  permit  him  to  engage  long  in  one  occupation  or  to 
remain  long  enough  in  one  place  to  take  root.  He  became  a  rover; 
at  one  place  he  taught  country  school;  at  another  practiced  law;  at 
a  third  edited  a  newspaper  and  secured  appointment  as  postmaster. 

198 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


199 


Finally  he  became  a  temperance  lecturer,  and  in  1843  came  to  Wis- 
consin, resuming  the  practice  of  law. 

Strang  went  into  the  Mormon  movement  with  great  energy.  In 
January  he  was  converted;  in  February  he  visited  Nauvoo  and  was 
baptized  by  the  seer  Joseph  Smith  into  the  communion  of  Latter 
Day  Saints.  The  young  Wisconsin  convert  made  so  favorable  an 
impression  on  the  prophet  that  only  a  week  later  he  was  made  an 
elder  and  received  authority  to  plant  a  stake  of  Zion  in  Wisconsin. 

Six  months  later  Strang  was  contesting  with  Brigham  Young 
the  headship  of  the  Mormon  church. 

A  mob  stormed  the  jail  at  Carthage,  111.,  in  the  month  of  June, 
1845,  and  shot  Joseph  Smith  and  his  brother  Hyrum  to  death. 
Before   the   distracted    Mormons    of   Nauvoo    had    recovered    their 


King  Strang. 
From  the  Only  Photograph  Known  to  Be  in  Existence. 


equilibrium,  Strang  appeared  among  them  urging  them  to  follow 
him  to  his  city  of  refuge  in  Wisconsin,  which  city  he  called 
Voree.  He  claimed  that  the  slain  prophet  had  designated  him  as 
successor  in  the  office  of  seer,  and  had  instructed  him  to  build  a 
temple  and  city  in  Walworth  county,  destined  to  become  the  strong- 
hold of  Mormonism.  To  prove  his  authority  he  exhibited  a  letter 
from  Joseph  Smith,  dated  the  day  previous  to  the  storming  of  the 
Carthage  jail,  and  bearing  the  Nauvoo  postmark.  The  letter  was 
couched  in  the  usual  phrases  that  distinguish  Mormon  literature — ■ 
an  ungrammatical  imitation  of  scriptural  language.  After  a  long 
preliminary  statement,  to  the  effect  that  "the  wolves  are  upon  the 
scent,"  and  that  the  writer  had  listened  to  music  low  and  sad,  *  as 


200  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

though  they  sounded  the  requiem  of  martyred  prophets,"  the 
prophetic  succession  is  thus  bestowed  upon  Strang: 

"And  now  behold  my  servant  James  J.  Strang  hath  come  to 
thee  from  far  for  truth  when  he  knew  it  not,  and  hath  not  rejected 
it,  but  hath  faith  in  thee,  the  Shepherd  and  Stone  of  Israel,  and  to 
him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be,  for  he  shall  plant  a  stake 
of  Zion  in  Wisconsin,  and  I  will  establish  it;  and  there  shall  my 
people  have  peace  and  rest,  and  shall  not  be  moved,  for  it  shall  be 
established  on  the  prairie  of  White  river,  in  the  lands  of  Racine  and 
Walworth;  and  behold  my  servants  James  and  Aaron  shall  plant 
it,  for  I  have  given  them  wisdom,  and  Daniel  shall  stand  in  his  lot 
on  the  hill  beside  the  river  looking  down  on  the  prairie,  and  shall 
Instruct  my  people,  and  shall  plead  with  them  face  to  face.  .  .  . 
And  I  will  have  a  house  built  unto  me  there  of  stone,  and  there  will 
I  show  myself  to  my  people  by  my  mighty  works,  and  the  name 
of  the  city  shall  be  called  Voree,  which  is,  being  interpreted,  garden 
of  peace;  for  there  shall  my  people  have  peace  and  rest,  and  wax  fat 
and  pleasant  in  the  presence  of  their  enemies." 

With  Brigham  Young  at  their  head,  the  Council  of  Twelve  who 
controlled  the  Mormon  Church,  raised  a  great  clamor;  denouncing 
Strang  as  a  pretender  and  his  letter  as  a  forgery.  Altrough  Strang 
gained  a  considerable  following,  they  succeeded  in  expelling  him 
from  the  city  of  Nauvoo  and  consigned  him  "to  the  buffetings  of 
Satan  until  he  do  repent." 

Followed  by  his  adherents,  Strang  went  to  the  banks  of  White 
river  and  began  to  build  his  city  of  Voree.  He  established  a  weekly 
paper,  The  Gospel  Herald;  his  printing  presses  turned  out  thousands 
of  tract  t5  for  distribution  by  his  missionaries.  About  this  time  the 
people  of  Illinois  were  preparing  to  expel  the  Nauvooites,  and  in 
the  "First  Pastoral  Letter  of  James,  the  Prophet,"  he  urged  the 
refugees  to  hasten  from  destruction  to  his  city  of  promise  in  Wis- 
consin. He  drew  a  lurid  picture  of  the  fate  that  awaited  the  wan- 
derers of  Utah: 

"Let  not  my  call  to  you  be  vain,"  he  wrote.  "The  destroyer  haa 
gone  forth  among  you  and  has  prevailed.  You  are  preparing  to 
resign  country  and  houses  and  lands  to  him.  Many  of  you  are  about 
to  leave  the  haunts  of  civilization  and  of  men  to  go  into  an  unex- 
plored wilderness  among  savages  and  in  trackless  deserts,  to  seek 
a  home  in  the  wilds  where  the  foot-print  of  the  white  man  is  not 
found.  The  voice  of  God  has  not  called  you  to  this.  His  promise  has 
not  gone  before  to  prepare  a  habitation  for  you.  The  hearts  of 
the  Lamanites  are  not  turned  unto  you,  and  they  will  not  regard 
you.  When  the  herd  comes,  the  savages  shall  pursue.  The  cloud 
which  surrounds  by  day  shall  bewilder  and  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night 
f^hall  consume  and  reveal  you  to  the  destroyer.  .  .  .  Let  the 
oppressed  flee  for  safety  unto  Voree,  and  let  the  gathering  of  the 
people  be  here." 


T1ie  Story  of  the  State.  201 

Strang's  pastoral  letter  did  not  affect  the  exodus  from  Nauvoo, 
but  lus  words  proved  prophetic.  Of  20,000  persons  who  crossed  the 
Mississippi,  less  than  half  reached  the  wilderness  of  Utah.  The  route 
was  sti-ewn  with  the  bleaching  bones  of  those  who  fell  by  the  way- 
side. 

The  building  of  Voree  went  on  with  great  energy.  It  was  claimed 
by  the  Mormons  that  at  one  time  its  population  numbered  not  less 
than  2,000  men,  women  and  children.  A  great  temple  was  planned 
and  b.=igun.  Strang  became  known  as  the  Prophet  James,  and,  as 
Joseph  Smith  had  done,  professed  to  have  visions  and  revelations. 
They  proved  exceedingly  useful  whenever  any  of  his  followers  be- 
came discontented  and  threatened  to  create  trouble.  The  prophet 
Joseph  had,  in  the  hill  of  Cumorah,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  found 
metallic  plates  covered  with  strange  characters.  These  he  trans- 
lated, and  the  result  was  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The  prophet  James 
concluded  that  a  similar  performance  in  Wisconsin  would  demon- 
strate to  the  doubters  his  right  to  take  Joseph's  place.  On  the  13th 
day  of  September,  1845,  he  announced  that  in  a  celestial  vision  he 
had  been  shown  a  spot  where  an  ancient  record  had  been  buried. 
He  led  four  persons,  Aaron  Smith,  Jirah  B.  Wheelan,  James  M.  Van 
Nostrand  and  Edward  Whitcomb,  to  an  old  oak  tree,  and  told  them 
10  dig  till  a  casket  containing  four  metal  plates  was  found. 

"The  case,"  they  afterwards  testified,  "was  found  imbedded  in 
indurated  clay,  so  closely  fitting  it  that  it  broke  in  taking  it  out,  and 
the  earth  below  the  soil  was  so  hard  as  to  be  dug  with  difficulty, 
even  with  a  pickax.  Over  the  case  was  found  a  flat  stone,  about  one 
foot  wide  each  way,  and  three  inches  thick,  which  appeared  to  have 
undergone  the  action  of  fire,  and  fell  in  pieces  a  few  minutes  after 
exposure  to  the  air.  The  digging  extended  in  the  clay  about  eighteen 
inches,  there  being  two  kinds  of  earth  of  a  different  color  and  ap- 
pearance above  it.  We  examined  as  we  dug  all  the  way  with  the 
utmost  care,  and  we  say,  with  the  utmost  confidence,  that  no  part  of 
the  earth  through  which  we  dug  exhibited  any  sign  or  indication 
that  it  had  been  moved  of  disturbed  at  any  time  previous.  The  roots 
of  the  tree  struck  down  on  every  side  very  closely,  extending  below 
the  case,  and  closely  interwoven  with  roots  from  other  trees.  None 
of  these  had  been  broken  or  cut  away." 

The  discovery  of  the  three  metal  plates  attracted  thousands  of 
curious  persons  to  Voree.  Strang  called  them  the  "plates  of  Laban," 
went  into  a  trance  and  furnished  the  following  translation  of  the 
mystic  cliaracters  which  he  claimed  were  inscribed  thereon  centuries 
ago: 

"1.  My  people  are  no  more.  The  mighty  are  fallen  and  the 
young  slain  in  battle.  Their  bones  bleached  on  the  plain  by  the 
noonday  shadow.  The  houses  are  leveled  to  the  dust,  and  in  the 
moat  are  the  walls.    They  shall  be  inhabited.    I  have  in  the  burial 


202  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

served  them,  and  their  bones  in  the  death  shade  towards  the  sun's 
rising  are  covered.  They  sleep  with  the  mighty  dead,  and  they  rest 
with  their  fathers.  They  have  fallen  in  transgression  and  are  not, 
but  the  elect  and  faithful  there  shall  dwell. 

"2.  The  word  hath  revealed  it.  God  hath  sworn  to  give  an  in- 
heritance to  his  people  where  transgressors  perished.  The  word  of 
God  came  to  me  while  I  mourned  in  the  death  shade,  saying,  I  will 
avenge  me  on  the  destroyer.  He  shall  be  driven  out.  Other  strangers 
shall  inhabit  thy  land.  I  an  ensign  there  will  set  up.  The 
escaped  of  my  people  there  shall  dwell,  when  the  flock  disown  the 
shepherd  and  build  not  on  the  rock. 

"3.  The  forerunner  men  shall  kill,  but  a  mighty  prophet  there 
shall  dwell.  I  will  be  his  strength,  and  he  shall  bring  forth  the  rec- 
ord.   Record  my  words  and  bury  it  in  the  hill  of  promise. 

"4.     The  record  of  Rajah  Manchore  of  Verito." 

This  record  of  the  ancient  Rajah  Manchore  of  Verito  was  mys- 
terious enough  to  awe  Strang's  followers  and  to  more  firmly  en- 
trench his  standing  as  a  prophet.  Subsequently  he  discovered  eight- 
een additional  buried  plates,  which  he  "translated."  This  transla- 
tion he  printed  in  the  form  of  a  book,  which  he  called  the  "Book  of 
the  Law  of  the  Lord."  The  preface  of  this  book,  and  its  printed 
title,  indicate  what  Strang  claimed  for  it: 

BOOK   OF   THE  LAW  OF  THE  LORD. 
Consisting    of 
An  Inspired  Translation  of  Some  of  the  Most  Important  Parts  of  the  Law  Given 
to  Moses,  and  a  Very  Few   Additional   Commandments,  with 
Brief    Notes   and    References. 
Printed   by   Command   of  the  King  at  the  Royal  Press,  St.  James,  A.  R.  I. 

From  the  preface:  "Several  books  are  also  mentioned  in  the 
scriptures,  not  now  found  in  the  Bible,  but  of  equal  authority  with  it, 
which  have  been  lost;  as,  for  instance,  another  epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Corinthian  and  the  Ephesian  churches,  and  the  books  of  Iddo, 
Nathan  and  others,  prophets  of  high  rank  in  Israel.  But  of  all  the 
lost  books  the  most  important  was  the  Book  of  the  Law  of  the 
liOrd.  This  was  kept  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  was  held  too 
sacred  to  go  into  the  hands  of  strangers.  When  the  Septuagint  trans- 
lation was  made,  the  Book  of  the  Law  was  kept  back,  and  the  book 
lost  to  the  Jewish  nation  in  the  time  that  they  were  subject  to  for- 
eign powers.  The  various  books  in  the  Pentateuch,  containing 
abstracts  of  some  of  the  laws,  have  been  read  instead,  until  even  the 
existence  of  the  book  has  come  to  be  a  matter  of  doubt.  It  is  from 
an  authorized  copy  of  that  book,  written  on  metallic  plates  long  pre- 
Tious  to  the  Babylonish  captivity,  that  this  translation  is  made." 

After  awhile  Strang's  ambitions  expanded.  He  wanted  temporal 
fts  well  as  spiritual  power;  to  be  king  as  well  as  prophet.  He  selected 
Beaver  island,  in  Lake  Michigan,  as  the  seat  of  his  empire,  and 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


203 


arranged  to  remove  his  faithful  followers  there.  The  first  families 
■went  there  from  Voree  In  1847,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  had 
gained  considerably  in  numbers.  The  fishermen  who  made  the 
island  their  home  resisted  the  Mormon  invasion  bitterly,  and  a  bor- 
der war  ensued  that  was  attended  with  some  bloodshed.  Finally  the 
Mormons  made  themselves  masters  of  the  island  and  obtained  con- 
trol of  the  county  government.  A  Mormon  sheriff  could  arrest  a 
Gentile  offender,  bring  him  before  a  Mormon  jury  for  conviction  and 
before  a  Mormon  judge  for  sentence.  Strang  secured  his  own  elec- 
tion to  the  legislature,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  obtain  the  enact- 
men:  of  local  laws  that  suited  his  scheme  of  government. 


I    3  t  '^  ^-  ^ 


One  of  the  Voree  Plates. 

(The  metallic  elates  dug  out  of  a  hill  near  Voree  were  three  in  number,  the 
mysterious  characters  engraved  thereon  being  very  similar.  Strang  called  them 
the  "Plates  of  Laban.") 


The  8th  of  July,  1850,  was  set  for  the  coronation  of  Strang  as 
king  of  St.  James.  Four  days  before  this  the  settlement  narrowly 
escaped  destruction.  The  Gentile  fishermen  from  the  opposite  main- 
land and  the  adjacent  cluster  of  islands  had  planned  a  strategic 
uprising  designed  to  lead  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons.  Their 
fleets  were  to  gather  in  the  harbor  of  St.  James,  ostensibly  to  cele- 
brate the  Fourth  of  July,  out  in  reality  for  the  sterner  work  of  at- 
tacking the  Mormons.  Having  secured  information  as  to  their  pur- 
pose, Strang  made  preparations  for  giving  the  fishermen  a  hot  recep- 
tion. A  cannon  was  procured  in  Chicago,  and  the  Mormons  were 
armed  and  drilled  in  anticipation  of  the  attack.  When  the  fieets 
came  into  the  harbor,  a  party  of  Mormon  spies  boarded  one  of  the 
vessels  under  cover  of  darkness  and  overheard  all  the  plans  for  the 
attack.  They  drugged  a  keg  of  whisky  and  departed  without  detec- 
tion.   In  the  morning  the  Mormons  began  firing  a  national  salute. 


204  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

the  balls  from  the  cannon  skipping  merrily  over  the  water  and  going 
dangerously  near  the  fishing  smacks.  A  parley  ensued.  The  Mor- 
mons gave  warning  that  any  hostile  movement  meant  death  and 
destruction  of  the  entire  fleet.  Seeing  that  the  Mormons  were  armed 
and  in  position  to  repel  an  attack,  the  fishermen  became  alarmed 
and  sailed  away  without  striking  a  blow. 

According  to  programme,  Strang  was  crowned  king  on  the  8th 
of  July.  The  ceremonies,  which  were  of  an  imposing  nature,  took 
place  in  the  unfinished  tabernacle  of  hewn  logs.  The  king's  council, 
the  quorum  of  twelve,  the  quorum  of  seventy  and  the  numerous 
minor  orders  of  the  ministry  had  their  part  in  the  pageant. 

King  Strang  ruled  with  autocratic  sway.  From  his  royal  press 
he  issued  his  commands  in  the  form  of  the  Book  of  the  Law,  which 
was  now  printed  in  full  for  the  first  time.  The  Northern  Islander 
was  printed  as  a  weekly,  and  later  as  a  daily  newspaper.  The  tith- 
ing system  was  inaugurated  and  implicitly  obeyed.  The  firstling  of 
every  flock  and  the  first  fruits  of  the  field  and  orchard  went  to  the 
royal  storehouse.  Women  were  required  to  wear  bloomers.  The  use 
of  intoxicants,  tea,  coffee  and  tobacco  was  prohibited.  Polygamy 
was  introduced,  the  king  setting  an  example  by  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  his  waves  to  five.  Great  improvements  were  planned.  A 
schooner  was  built,  a  sawmill  constructed  and  a  great  road  to  the 
interior  of  the  island,  called  the  King's  highway,  was  laid  out.  The 
Mormons  changed  the  nomenclature  of  the  island's  physical  features 
to  harmonize  with  the  names  in  the  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Mormon 
A  bill  in  the  interior  was  dignified  into  Mount  Pisgah.  A  crystal 
lake  was  called  Galilee  and  the  stream  whence  its  waters  traveled 
lakeward  received  the  name  Jordan.  The  harbor  was  named  St. 
James,  and  the  cluster  of  cabins  along  its  shore  became  the  royal 
city  of  St.  James,  in  honor  of  the  king. 

One  fine  day  the  United  States  armed  steamer  Michigan  cast 
anchor  m  the  harbor  of  St.  James,  a  boat  manned  by  Uncle  Sam's 
tars  rowed  to  the  shore  and  placed  King  Strang  and  the  principal 
men  of  St.  James  under  arrest  on  the  charge  of  treason,  counterfeit- 
ing the,  coin  and  interfering  with  the  government  mails.  A  vain 
search  was  made  for  a  secret  cave  supposed  to  exist  in  Mount  Pis- 
gah and  believed  to  contain  the  tools  of  the  counterfeiters,  and  the 
prisoners  were  conveyed  to  Detroit  for  trial.  Strang  conducted  his 
own  defense  with  much  skill  and  made  a  powerful  plea  to  the  jury, 
representing  himself  as  a  martyr  to  religious  persecution.  He  was 
acquitted,  and  returned  to  his  insular  kingdom  in  triumph. 

On  frequent  occasions  the  Mormons  came  into  bloody  conflict  witli 
the  Gentiles.  A  grand  jury  was  called  to  meet  at  St.  James,  and  the 
Mormon  sheriff  and  his  deputies  went  to  Charlevoix  to  serve  sum- 
mons on  witnesses.  Believing  that  the  summons  were  a  mere  sub- 
terfuge to  get  them  into  the  power  of  King  Strang  the  fishermen 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


205 


resisted  the  authority  of  the  sheriff.  As  the  Mormons  made  for 
their  boats  in  hot  haste,  a  volley  of  bullets  sped  after  them  and 
wounded  two  of  the  men.  The  fishermen  tumbled  into  their  own 
boats  and  pursued  the  fleeing  sheriff  and  his  men.  There  ensued  a 
race  tor  life  over  the  waters  of  the  lake.  The  brawny  oarsmen  in 
the  rear  boats  sent  their  craft  through  the  water  at  a  speed  that 
made  it  impossible  for  the  fugitives  to  escape  to  Beaver  Island.  The 
Mormons  made  for  a  vessel  that  opportunely  hove  in  sight,  ais  their 
only  hope  of  escape  from  the  shot  that  whistled  over  and  around 
them.  They  reached  it  when  they  were  almost  spent,  and  the  hu- 
mane captain  gave  them  refuge.  The  angry  fishermen  demanded 
that  the  men  be  turned  over  to  them,  but  the  captain  listened  to  the 


Strang's  Castle. 


piteous  pleadings  of  the  Mormons,  who  knew  that  such  a  course 
meant  certain  death,  and  landed  them  unharmed  on  Beaver  Island. 

While  King  Strang  seemed  in  the  height  of  his  power,  his  reign 
was  abruptly  terminated  by  the  bullets  of  assassins.  His  subjects 
were  not  all  loyal,  and  two  of  them  planned  his  death.  Early  in 
July,  1856,  the  Michigan  steamed  into  the  harbor,  and  King  Strang 
prepared  to  pay  the  officers  on  board  a  visit.  As  he  stepped  on  the 
dock  Alexander  Wentworth  and  Thomas  Bedford  emerged  from  be- 
hind a  woodpile  and  fired  simultaneously,  both  shots  taking  effect. 
As  he  fell  they  struck  him  savagely  with  their  weapons  and  ran 
aboard  the  vessesl  to  give  themselves  up.  They  were  taken  to  Mack- 
inac, and  after  awhile  secured  their  release.  Neither  of  the  assassins 
was  ever  brought  to  trial. 


206  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

Strang's  wounds  were  fatal.  He  asked  to  be  conveyed  to  hia 
city  of  Voree,  and  he  lingered  until  he  reached  the  spot  where  he 
had  planned  to  build  a  great  city  of  refuge  for  Mormondom.  A  few 
days  later  he  died,  surrounded  by  his  numerous  wives.  He  lies  in  an 
unmarked  grave  in  the  prairie  beside  White  river. 

The  kingdom  of  St.  James  went  to  pieces.  The  long-delayed 
invasion  of  the  Gentiles  followed  soon  after  Strang's  death.  The 
printing  office  was  sacked;  the  temple  was  destroyed;  ax  and  torch 
leveled  a  goodly  portion  of  the  royal  city.  The  Mormons  were  ex- 
iled and  their  homes  were  confiscated.  Some  sought  refuge  in  the 
northern  counties  of  Wisconsin;  some  drifted  to  Utah;  others  wan- 
dered elsewhere;  the  island  thereafter  became  the  home  of  the  fisher 
folk,  and  their  descendants  live  there  to-day. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   MIGRATION    FROM    OVER    THE    OCEAN. 

Wisconsin  has  been  termed  the  polyglot  state  of  the  Union.  But 
five  states  have  a  foreign-born  population  greater  than  that  of  Wis- 
consin, and  in  but  one  of  these  is  the  percentage  as  large.  In  no 
state  are  more  nationalities  represented  among  the  foreign  groups 
of  considerable  size. 

The  coming  of  colonists  from  trans-Atlantic  regions  in  numbers 
eufficient  to  influence  the  history  of  Wisconsin  began  in  the  days  of 
the  territory.  Before  1840  the  chief  elements  of  the  population  com- 
prised the  non-progressive  French  Creoles,  who  hunted  and  bartered 
for  furs;  the  Southern  fortune  seekers,  who  brought  their  negro 
slaves  from  Missouri  and  Tennessee  into  the  lead  regions;  and  the 
brawnj^  and  brainy  New  Englanders  and  New  York  men  whO'  became 
the  pioneer  farmers  of  the  territory  in  the  opposite  southern  zone  of 
the  state.  Then  came  the  forerunners  of  the  army  of  Germans, 
Scandinavians  and  other  Teutonic  nations,  whose  coming  has  con- 
tinued uninterruptedly  to  this  day,  with  an  admixture  of  Celtic 
and  Slavonian  immigration.  Many  independent  causes  operated  to 
turn  this  tide  Wisconsinward,  and  at  one  time  the  thought  was 
seriously  entertained  that  a  foreign  state  was  to  be  founded  here. 
The  ideas  brought  hither  from  the  Germanic  countries  of  Europe 
have  not  denationalized  Wisconsin,  but  they  have  profoundly 
affected  its  social,  commercial  and  political  life. 

Not  alone  in  the  grouping  of  nationalities  in  certain  localities  is 
Wisconsin  peculiar,  but  also  in  the  massing  together  of  people  from 
the  same  provinces  and  even  towns  of  the  old  country.  It  indicates 
that  the  foreign  colonization  of  Wisconsin  was  not  a  haphazard  cir- 
cumstance; the  cause  was  deeper  than  the  restlessness  of  individ- 
uals. The  people  came  in  numbers  sufficient  to  constitute  a  com- 
munity, impelled  by  local  economic,  political  or  religious  conditions 
which  they  sought  to  escape.  In  the  hamlets  of  the  old  world,  the 
plan  of  migration  was  thoroughly  discussed  at  public  meetings  and 
in  private  home  gatherings;  in  many  cases  the  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment were  sent  ahead  to  do  the  prospecting  and  report  what  they 
found  in  the  new  world.  Thus  little  communities  of  neighbors  were 
transplanted  to  the  fertile  soil  of  Wisconsin,  and  after  the  lapse  of 
half  a  century  many  of  them  retain  the  distinctive  customs  they 
brought  with  them  from  the  old  world.  Some  of  the  towns  of  the 
state  whose  inhabitants  are  made  up  of  people  from  particular  dis- 
tricts of  Germany  are  enumerated  in  a  report  of  the  State  Histor- 
ical society,  as  follows: 

Germans — Lomira  was  settled  almost  entirely  by  Prussians  from  Branden- 
burg,  who  belonged   to   the   Evangelical   association.     The   neighboring  towns   of 

207 


208 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


Herman  and  Theresa,  also  in  Dodge  county,  were  settled  principally  by  natives 
of  Pommeranla.  In  Calumet  county  there  are  Oldenburg,  Luxemburg  and  New 
Holstein  settlements.  St.  Kilian,  in  Washington  county,  ia  settled  by  people 
from  Northern  Bohemia,  just  over  the  German  border.  The  town  of  Belgium, 
Ozaukee  county,  is  populated  almost  exclusively  by  Luxemburgers,  while  Olden- 
burgers  occupy  the  German  settlement  at  Cedarburg.  Three-fourths  of  the 
population  of  Farmington,  Washington  county,  are  from  Saxony.  In  the  same 
county,  Jackson  is  chiefly  settled  by  Pommeranians,  while  one-half  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Kewaskum  are  from  the  same  German  orovince.  In  Dane  county  there 
are  several  Interesting  groups  of  German  Catholics.  Roxbury  is  nine-tenths 
German,  the  people  coming  mostly  from  Rheinish  Prussia  and  Bavaria.  Germans 
predominate  in  Cross  Plains,  the  rest  of  the  population  being  Irish.  The  German 
families  of  Middleton  came  from  Koln. 


Carl  Schurz. 

(Carl  Schurz  spent  the  first  years  after  his  coming  to  America,  in  Water- 
town,  Wis.  He  wa.3  candidate  for  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  State  while  a  resi- 
dent of  Watertown,  and  sought  the  nomination  for  Governor.  He  was  appointed 
minister  to  Rome  and  never  returned  to  Wisconsin.) 


Scandinavians — Important  Norwegian  groups  are  the  following:  New  Hope 
and  Amherst  in  Portage  county;  Oilman,  Martel,  Ellsworth  and  Hartland  in 
Pierce  county;  seven  townships  in  the  western  part  of  Waupaca  county;  Mt. 
Morris  in  Waushara  county;  Winchester  and  one-half  of  Clayton  in  Winnebago 
county;  Christiana  in  Lafayette  county;  Coon  in  Vernon  county.  Swedes  pre- 
dominate in  Trenton,  Isabel  and  Maiden  Rock  in  Pierce  county.  Icelanders 
practically  monopolize  Washington  island  in  the  waters  of  Green  Bay.  There 
are  large  Norwegian  settlements  in  Dane  county. 

Polanders — The  Fourteenth  ward  of  Milwaukee  is  almost  solidly  occupied 
by  Polanders,  and  they  predominate  in  three  other  wards.  Poles  from  Posen 
occupy  a  quarter  of  Beaver  Dam.     A  colony  of  Poles  from  Danzig  make  Berlin 


The  Stonj  of  the  State.  209 

their  home.  There  is  also  a  Polish  group  in  Stevens  Point.  Other  solid  Polish 
groups  are  found  in  the  townships  of  Berlin,  Seneca  and  Princeton.  Warren 
township,  in  Waushara  county,  has  a  considerable  colony  of  Poles. 

Swiss — Between  5,000  and  6,000  Swiss  are  massed  in  exceptionally  prosperous 
colonies  In  New  Glarus,  Washington,  Exeter,  Mt.  Pleasant,  York  and  neighboring 
townships  in  Green  county.  Others  may  be  found  in  the  counties  of  Buffalo, 
Pierce  (Union),  Winnebago  (Black  Wolf),  and  Fond  du  Lac  (Ashford). 

Irish — Irish  groups  are  found  in  Bear  Creek,  Winfield  and  Dellona  in  Sauk 
■county;  Osceola,  Eden  and  Byron  in  Fond  du  Lac  county;  Benton,  Darlington, 
Gratiot,  Kendall,  Seymour,  Shullsburg,  and  Willow  Spring  in  Lafayette  county; 
Lebanon  in  Waupaca  county;  Erin  in  Washington  county;  Emmet,  Shields  and 
Portland  In  Dodge  county. 

Welsh — In  Waushara  county  the  town  of  Springwater,  one-half  of  the  town 
of  Rose  and  one-half  of  Aurora  are  occupied  by  natives  of  Wales  and  their 
Immediate  descendants.  Spring  Green,  in  Lake  county,  has  a  large  colony  of 
them.  The  whole  of  Nekemi,  the  greater  part  of  Utica,  Caledonia  and  Calamus 
are  Welsh  neighborhoods  and  likewise  the  Third  and  Sixth  wards  of  the  city  of 
Racine. 

There  are  also  large  groups  of  Bohemians,  Belgians,  Finlanders, 
French-Canadians  as  well  as  English  and  Scotch  settlements,  scat- 
tered about  the  state. 

When  Milwaukee  was  but  a  small  cluster  of  houses  in  the  early 
30's,  Germans  had  made  their  home  in  the  village,  but  it  was  not 
until  a  decade  later  that  colonists  began  to  arrive  in  considerable 
numbers  from  the  fatherland.  Political  disturbances  at  home  sent 
many  of  them  over  the  ocean,  and  the  low  price  of  land  and  liberal 
laws  of  Wisconsin  attracted  many  of  them  to  this  territory.  At  one 
time  there  was  considerable  agitation  both  in  this  country  and  in 
Germany  with  a  view  to  such  concentration  of  German  settlement 
and  influence  as  to  Germanize  one  of  the  states  of  the  Union.  Wis- 
consin was  by  common  consent  regarded  as  the  ideal  place  for  car- 
rying this  plan  into  effect.  Whether  this  agitation  contributed 
materially  to  swing  the  German  emigration  to  Wisconsin  is  doubt- 
ful except  to  the  extent  that  the  discussion  of  the  project  served  to 
advertise  conspicuously  the  natural  advantages  of  the  territory. 

"Germans  can  remain  Germans  in  America,"  one  enthusiastic 
promoter  of  the  German-American  state  idea  wrote  in  1847.  "They 
■will  mingle  and  intermarry  with  non-Germans  and  adopt  their 
•ways,  but  they  can  still  remain  essentially  German.  They  can 
plant  the  vine  on  the  hills  and  drink  it  with  happy  song  and  dance; 
they  can  have  German  schools  and  universities,  German  literature 
and  art,  German  science  and  philosophy,  German  courts  and  assem- 
blies—in short,  they  can  form  a  German  state,  in  which  the  German 
language  is  as  much  the  popular  and  official  language  as  the  English 
is  now,  and  in  which  the  German  spirit  rules." 

Between  the  years  1840  and  1848  pamphlets  and  books  describ- 
ing the  resources  and  favorable  climatic  conditions  of  Wisconsin 
were  circulated  in  great  number  in  some  parts  of  Germany,  and 
undoubtedly  greatly  influenced  intending  settlers  to  seek  the  golden 
Northwest.    In  the  Rhine  region,  in  the  Wupper  valley  and  in  the 


210  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

duchy  of  Brunswick  these  guides  for  emigrants  found  especially 
eager  readers.  Milwaukee  soon  became  known  as  the  Grerman 
Athens  of  America,  but  the  German  population  of  Wisconsin  was  not 
confined  to  the  chief  city  of  the  territory.  The  wooded  sections 
along  the  lake  shore  and  in  the  interior  attracted  large  numbers  of 
the  homeseekers.  The  early  German  settlers  were  mostly  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  but  in  the  early  40's  Pommerania  and  Brandenburg, 
as  the  result  of  religious  contentions,  lost  many  of  their  people,  and 
their  leaders  directed  many  of  them  to  Wisconsin.  They  settled  in 
Milwaukee,  Ozaukee,  Dodge  and  Washington  counties.  Everywhere 
the  Germans  sought  to  win  homes  in  the  woods  rather  than  on  the 
prairies. 


James  G.  Percival,  Poet. 

(During  Wisconsin's  early  days  of  Statehood,  James  G.  Percival  served  as 
State  geologist.  Mr.  Percival  was  a  poet  and  scientist  of  national  reputation.  He 
was  a  strange  character,  wholly  given  over  to  intellectual  pursuits  and  shunning 
all  intercourse  with  his  fellow  men  where  it  was  at  all  avoidable.  He  was  eccen- 
tric in  dress;  his  house  had  but  one  entrance,  and  that  was  in  the  rear.  He  was 
never  known  to  speak  to  a  woman,  and  in  many  ways  e.xhibited  odd  charac- 
teristics.) 


In  the  central  counties  of  the  state  the  Germans  who  penetrated 
and  formed  colonies  were  mostly  from  Pommerania,  Mecklenburg, 
Holstein  and  other  provinces  of  middle  and  North  Germany.  In 
the  western  part  of  the  state,  also,  large  German  settlements  were 
begun.  The  Sauk  county  German  settlements  owe  their  origin  to  a 
curious  accident.  Count  Augustus  Haraszthy,  a  Hungarian  refugee, 
chanced  upon  a  novel  aboard  the  vessel  that  carried  him  to  Amer- 
ica. Becoming  interested  in  a  description  therein  given  of  a  trip 
from   Green   Bay   to   Prairie   du   Chien,    he   concluded   to  visit  the 


The  Stori/  of  the  State.  211 

region.  He  induced  a  number  of  Germans  to  join  him  and  founded 
the  village  of  Sauk. 

Norwegians  attach  the  same  associations  to  the  name  Restau- 
rationen  as  do  the  New  Englanders  to  the  MayHower.  Aboard  the 
little  sloop  Restaurationen,  which  left  the  ancient  city  of  Stavanger, 
on  the  southwest  coast  of  Norway,  in  1825,  were  a  few  Quaker  fam- 
ilies seeking  escape  from  religious  persecution.  They  left  on  the 
fourth  day  of  July,  and  had  a  perilous  and  adventurous  journey 
lasting  fourteen  weeks.  The  arrival  of  the  little  shell  amazed  the 
people  of  New  York,  who  maiweled  that  fifty-two  persons  would 
venture  on  such  a  voyage  in  so  small  a  craft. 

Soon  letters  found  their  way  to  the  Scandinavian  peninsula, 
descriptive  of  the  fertile  lands  in  the  new  world,  to  be  had  for  the 
asking.  These  letters  were  passed  from  house  to  house  and  were 
read  with  great  interest.  Emigration  began  to  be  discussed  and 
plans  formulated  for  crossing  the  ocean.  When  one  of  the  wan- 
derers returned  to  his  home  to  seek  a  wife,  people  traveled  hundreds 
of  miles  to  question  him.  Thus  began  the  stream  of  Norwegian 
Immigration  that  has  given  to  Wisconsin  some  of  its  best  citizens. 

Previous  to  the  year  1840  there  were  but  six  Norwegian  settle- 
ments in  North  America,  and  of  these  three  were  located  in  Wis- 
consin. The  first  Norwegian  settlement  in  Wisconsin  was  the  fourth 
in  America.  It  was  founded  at  Jefferson  Prairie,  in  Rock  county,  by 
Ole  Knudson  Nattestad.  With  his  brother  and  a  companion  they 
left  their  native  valley  in  Norway,  their  entire  equipment  consist- 
ing of  the  clothes  they  wore,  a  knapsack  and  a  pair  of  skees.  They 
traveled  over  snow-crusted  hills  till  they  reached  Stavanger,  whence 
the  little  sloop  Restaurationen  had  sailed  twelve  years  before.  Here 
they  had  to  hide  until  they  obtained  passage  for  America  on  a  yacht 
loaded  with  herring,  as  the  government  was  trying  to  stem  the  tide 
of  emigration  and  refused  to  issue  passports.  The  story  of  this  pio- 
neer trio  is  a  romantic  one. 

The  fifth  Norwegian  settlement  in  America  was  planted  in 
Waukesha  and  Racine  counties  in  1839,  and  was  the  result  of 
graphic  letters  written  home  by  the  people  at  Jefferson  Prairie.  The 
Waukesha  and  Racine  colony  became  known  as  the  Muskego  settle- 
ment. The  emigrants  paid  $42  apiece  for  passage  to  Boston,  and 
thence  they  made  the  journey  by  way  of  Buffalo  to  Milwaukee.  It 
took  then  three  weeks  to  come  from  Buffalo  to  Wisconsin  in  a  mis- 
erable vessel  "that  leaked  like  a  sieve  and  could  scarcely  hold 
together." 

In  the  Muskego  settlement  was  printed,  in  1847,  the  first  Nor- 
wegian paper  in  America.  It  was  called  the  "Nordlyset,"  Even  Heg 
and  James  D.  Reymert  being  the  publishers. 

The  third  Norwegian  settlement  in  Wisconsin,  known  as  th3 
Koshkonong   colony,    was   the    sixth   in    America,    and    became   the 


212 


Leading  Eccnts  of  Wisconsin  History. 


wealthiest  rural  Norwegian  community  on  the  continent.  The  set- 
tlement was  begun  in  1840.  The  following  year  it  obtained  consid- 
erable  notoriety  owing  to  the  arrest  in  Norway  of  three  counter- 
feiters who  had  manufactured  their  bogus  money  while  sojourning 
in  Koshkonong.  To  give  the  bills  a  worn  look,  the  counterfeiters 
had  secreted  them  in  the  soles  of  their  shoes.  Imprisonment  fol- 
lowed detection.  The  Koshkonong  settlement  is  said  to  be  the 
largest  community  of  Norwegian  farmers  in  America. 

A  true  picture  of  pioneer  life  among  the  early  Norwegian  set- 
tlers is  contained  in  an  address  delivered  at  an  East  Koshkonong 
celebration  by  the  Rev.  Adolph  Bredesen: 

"The  houses  of  our  pioneers  of  fifty  years  ago  were  log  cabins, 
shanties  and  dugouts.  Men  and  women  alike  dressed  in  blue  drill- 
ing or  in  coarse  homespun,  brought  over  from  the  old  country  in 
those  large,  bright-painted  chests.  In  1844,  I  am  told,  not  a  woman 
on  Koshkonong  prairie  was  the  proud  possessor  of  a  hat.     Some  of 


Original,  Mitchell  Bank  Building— 1S39. 


the  good  wives  and  daughters  of  those  days  sported  home-made  sun 
bonnets,  but  the  majority  contented  themselves  with  the  old-country 
kerchief.  Carpets,  kerosene  lamps,  coal  stoves  or  sewing  machines, 
reapers,  threshing  machines,  top-buggies  and  Stoughton  wagons 
were  things  not  dreamed  of.  If  books  were  few,  a  family  Bible  and 
some  of  Luther's  writings  were  rarely  wanting,  even  in  the  hum- 
blest homes.  If  the  people  were  not  versed  in  some  of  the  branches 
now  taught  in  almost  every  common  school,  they  were  well 
grounded  in  the  catechism,  the  Forklaring  and  the  Bible  history. 
Our  mothers  and  grandmothers  did  not  ruin  our  digestion  with 
mince  pie  and  chicken  salad,  but  gave  us  wholesome  and  tooth- 
some flatbrod  and  mylsa,  and  brim  and  prim  and  bresta,  the  kind  of 
food  on  which  a  hundred  generations  of  Norway  seamen  and  moun- 
taineers have  been  raised." 

In   some   respects  the  most  interesting   story   associated   with 
Wisconsin's  composite  nationality  is  that  of  the  Swiss  colonies  on 


The  Story  of  the  State.  213 

the  Little  Sugar  river.  Ttiese  people  came  from  Glarus.  There  the 
population  had  increased  until  the  cultivated  land  of  the  valleys  and 
the  summer  pastures  on  the  Alps  no  longer  furnished  subsistence 
sufficient  for  them  all.  Food  became  so  scarce  that  public  meet- 
ings were  held  to  discuss  methods  for  inducing  emigration.  An 
appropriation  was  made  from  the  public  treasury  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  two  representatives  who  were  sent  to  America  to  locate 
a  tract  of  land  for  those  willing  to  leave  their  valley  home.  The 
men  left  in  March,  1845,  bearing  with  them  written  instructions. 
The  minute  directions  thus  committed  to  paper  embodied  an  entire 
plan  of  government  for  the  colony  which  it  was  proposed  to  estab- 
lish in  the  new  world,  with  due  regard  to  schools,  churches,  relief 
of  sick  and  poor,  provision  for  shelter,  food  and  clothing;  distribu- 
tion of  land  so  as  to  give  each  settler  proper  proportion  of  pasture, 
timber  and  tillable  land;  cultivation  of  a  certain  tract  in  common; 
keeping  of  a  journal  recording  principal  events  affecting  the  com- 
munity; recording  vital  statistics,  and  a  hundred  other  matters,  reg- 
ulating the  conduct  and  aiming  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  wan- 
derers. 

The  diary  kept  by  the  Swiss  commissioners  is  unique;  it  tells  in 
exact  detail  what  they  did  and  what  they  saw  on  their  long  journey 
half  way  across  the  continent,  by  stage,  on  horseback  and  on  toot. 
Thirty  miles  from  Mineral  Point  they  selected  a  tract  which  they 
deemed  suitable  for  the  planting  of  a  colony.  The  rocky  slopes  that 
fashioned  the  valley  reminded  them  of  their  own  mountainous 
Glarus,  and  they  christened  the  spot  New  Glarus.  They  started  to 
build  huts,  and  awaited  the  coming  of  their  kinsmen. 

On  a  rainy  day  in  April,  1845,  nearly  200  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren gathered  on  the  banks  of  the  Linth  canal  to  begin  the  long 
journey.  Arrangements  had  been  made  for  but  140  persons.  Two 
leaders  and  two  spokesmen  were  chosen,  and  the  colonists  promised 
to  obey  them  implicitly.  Hardship  was  experienced  from  the  start. 
Packed  closely  in  an  open  vessel,  a  pelting  rain  succeeded  by  a 
blinding  snow  storm,  added  to  their  discomforts.  The  vessel  was  so 
small  and  the  passengers  were  so  many  that  there  was  no  room  for 
lying  down,  so  after  much  distress  the  women  and  children  were 
transferred,  at  Zurich,  to  covered  wagons. 

"We  arrived  at  Basle  on  the  18th,"  says  the  journal  of  Mathias 
Duerst.  "The  cold  rain  was  falling  in  streams,  and  the  utter 
wretchedness  and  discomfort  were  enough  to  chill  the  ardor  of  the 
strongest  among  the  wet  shivering  men.  The  wagons  containing 
our  wives  and  children  arrived  about  the  same  time,  and  although 
they  had  been  packed  in  like  a  lot  of  goods,  we  were  glad  that  they 
had  not  been  exposed  to  the  cold  and  wet  as  we  had  been." 

The  rest  of  the  journey  was  a  continuation  of  this  distress, 
Down  the  Rhine  they  slept  on  the  bare  boards  of  the  vessel's  deck. 


214  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

skirmishing  for  provisions  at  the  stopping  places  en  route.  On  the 
way  from  Rotterdam  to  New  Dieppe  they  encountered  a  terrific 
storm.  While  awaiting  the  ocean  vessel  at  New  Dieppe  they  camped 
on  the  shore  in  gypsy  fashion.  Many  suffered  from  hunger  on  the 
way  over  on  account  of  the  worthlessness  of  the  food  provided  for 
the  ship's  passengers.  Two  deaths  occurred,  and  the  sad  burial  ser- 
vice of  the  sea  was  followed  by  thejconsignment  of  the  bodies  to  the 
depths  of  the  ocean.  The  half-starved  company  arrived  at  Balti- 
more after  forty-nine  days  of  ocean  travel.  They  stopped  long 
enough  to  hold  an  indignation  meeting  and  adopt  resolutions  con- 
demning the  treatment  they  had  received  aboard  ship,  and  then 
proceeded  to  St.  Louis. 

"Then  we  experienced  the  greatest  pleasure  of  our  lives,"  wrote 
Mathias  Duerst.  "None  of  us  had  ever  before  rode  on  a  railroad. 
The  train  took  us  to  the  Susquehanna  river  at  Columbia,  where  we 
left  the  cars  and  loaded  our  baggage  and  persons  on  canal  boats, 
which  were  to  carry  us  to  Pittsburg.  We  were  packed  in  like  a 
herd  of  sheep.  Many  could  not  even  sit,  but  had  to  stand  up  the 
whole  night." 

When  the  emigrants  arrived  at  St.  Louis,  they  were  distressed 
to  find  no  tidings  of  the  two  pioneers  who  had  preceded  them.  It 
was  here  that  they  had  expected  to  meet  them  and  proceed  to  the 
promised  land  under  their  guidance.  Two  houses  were  rented  and 
they  crowded  into  them;  two  of  their  men  were  dispatched  to  seek 
their  lost  leaders.  They  searched  over  the  wide  prairies  of  Illinois 
and  in  the  wooded  belts  of  Wisconsin,  and  finally  accidentally 
learned  their  whereabouts.  Mathias  Duerst's  entertaining  journal 
sketches  with  grapnic  fidelity  the  numerous  adventures  of  the  wan- 
derers. 

In  the  meantime  the  emigrants  at  St.  Louis  had  become  impa- 
tient and  determined  to  make  a  search  on  their  own  account.  They 
reached  Galena  the  very  day  that  Duerst  arrived  there  on  his  way 
back  to  St.  Louis.  It  was  a  joyful  meeting.  The  party  at  once 
started  for  the  new  home  in  Wisconsin,  the  more  robust  of  the  men 
going  ahead  afoot,  carrying  their  belongings  on  their  backs,  the 
rest  of  the  party  following  more  slowly. 

On  the  15th  day  of  August,  1845,  the  colonists  arrived  at  New 
Glarus.  They  had  brought  with  them  the  kettles  and  pots  which 
they  had  used  in  Switzerland,  and  these  were  distributed.  Huts 
were  built  and  thatched  with  hay,  and  the  men  went  energetically 
to  work  to  begin  their  humble  homes.  Rules  and  regulations  were 
adopted  for  the  government  of  the  colony,  some  of  them  being 
unique: 

"Every  one  is  obliged  to  take  the  land  which  he  draws  by  lot, 
and  whether  it  be  better  or  worse,  to  accept  the  same  without 
protest." 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


215 


"The  main  street  from  east  to  west  shall  be  thirty  feet  wide, 
but  the  other  streets  shall  be  only  fourteen  feet  wide." 

"All  creeks,  springs  and  streams  shall  be  the  common  property 
of  all  lot  owners." 

"The  colonists  shall  be  obliged  to  assist  each  other  in  building 
houses  and  barns." 

"Should  mineral  be  found,  then  the  lot  on  which  it  is  found 
shall  revert  to  the  society,  and  the  owner  shall  receive  therefor 
appropriate  compensation." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  one  of  Wisconsin's  notable  foreign 
colonies.  One  hundred  and  eighty-three  persons  had  started  on  the 
5,000-mile  journey.  They  traveled  by  water  all  but  a  mere  fraction 
of  the  distance.  They  counted  118  persons  when  they  reached  New 
Glarua. 

Most  of  the  Belgian  settlements  are  located  in  the  extreme 
northeastern  corner  of  the  state.    The  coming  of  the  pioneers  was 


A  Pioneer  Milwaukee  Brewery— 1S44. 

attended  with  hardships  and  adventures  similar  to  those  experi- 
enced by  the  vanguard  of  Swiss,  German  and  Scandinavian  colo- 
nists. They  spoke  French  and  the  Latinized  patios  known  as  Wal- 
loon, and  naturally  drifted  to  the  neighborhood  of  Green  Bay,  where 
lived  French-speaking  people.  The  first  comers  located  in  1853,  and 
they  were  followed  by  thousands  of  their  countrymen.  With  the 
old-country  customs  and  ideas,  they  also  transplanted  some  of  the 
village  names,  these  being  some  of  their  settlements:  Sucrerie,  La 
Riviere  Rouge,  La  Misere,  St.  Sauveur,  Rosifere,  Aux  Flamand  and 
Granlez. 

An  episode  that  attracted  much  attention  occurred  in  the  year 
1858  in  the  settlement  of  Aux  Premier  Beiges.  AdSle  Brice  claimed 
that  while  walking  home  from  church,  the  Virgin  Mary  appeared 
to  her  and  commanded  her  to  build  a  chapel  on  the  spot  and  devote 
her  life  to  the  service  of  her  faith.  Threats  from  the  clergy  and 
scoffing  from  the  incredulous  failed  to  shake  her  story,  and  the 
young  girl  persisted  in  offering  her  devotions  on  the  sacred  spot 


216  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

where  the  vision  occurred,  until  multitudes  were  attracted  to  the 
place.  A  small  chapel  was  built,  and  annually  on  the  anniversary 
of  Adele  Brice's  vision,  thousands  go  to  the  shrine  from  far  and 
near  to  worship. 

Most  Irishmen  who  came  to  the  new  world  in  the  middle  of  the 
century  preferred  to  remain  in  the  cities.  Early  in  its  existence  the 
city  of  Milwaukee  had  a  considerable  Irish  element,  whose  leaders 
had  much  influence  in  politics.  The  Irish  immigrants  did  not  all 
remain  in  the  cities,  however,  and  several  notable  agricultural 
groups  became  established  in  adjoining  counties.  One  was  in  Wash- 
ington county,  and  was  appropriately  named  Erin.  The  first  settler 
located  there  in  1841.  For  many  years  not  one  non-Democratic  vote 
was  cast  in  this  town.  There  has  been  a  transformation  during  the 
past  decade  in  the  population  of  the  town,  the  original  owners  hav- 
ing been  displaced  by  German  farmers.  The  Germans  are  now  in 
the  majority  in  Erin,  where  once  every  inhabitant  was  a  native  of 
Ireland.  The  same  change  of  nationality  has  been  noted  in  several 
other  settlements  originally  established  by  the  Irish. 

The  Welsh  are  also  among  the  territorial  pioneers  of  Wisconsin, 
and  they  have  yet  strong  groups  in  some  sections  of  the  state.  In 
the  lead  region  a  colony  of  Cornish  miners  became  located  during 
the  mineral  excitement.  There  are  other  national  groups  in  Wis- 
consin, among  them  Italians,  Bohemians,  Dutch,  Russian  Jews  and 
Finlanders.  With  the  exception  of  the  thrifty  Dutch,  their  origin 
is  of  later  date  than  the  territorial  era. 


PART  V. 


FIFTY  YEARS  OF  STATEHOOD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    THIRTIETH    STAR    IN    THE    FIELD    OF    BLUE. 

By  the  admission  of  Wisconsin  to  stateliood.  May  29,  1848,  the 
field  of  blue  in  the  nation's  flag  received  its  thirtith  star.  The 
same  year  the  infant  state  was  called  upon  to  cast  its  first  vote  tor 
president  of  the  United  States,  and  by  an  interesting  coincidence  the 
voters  had  to  choose  between  two  former  residents.  Gen.  Zachary 
Taylor  had  been  stationed  for  many  years  as  an  army  officer  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  (Fort  Crawford)  and  Fort  Winnebago,  and  had 
taken  part  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  went  from  Wisconsin  to 
win  laurels  on  the  battlefields  of  Mexico.  Lewis  Cass  had  served 
as  governor  of  Michigan  territory  when  Wisconsin  was  a  part  of 
it,  and  in  many  ways  had  identified  himself  with  the  material  pros- 
perity of  Wisconsin.  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor  was  elected  president, 
but  Wisconsin  cast  its  four  electoral  votes  for  Lewis  Cass,  Demo- 
cratic candidate. 

Statehood  came  to  Wisconsin  after  much  contention  at  home 
and  in  Congress.  It  was  only  after  one  constitution  had  been 
rejected  that  an  instrument  was  framed  which  proved  satisfactory. 
It  was  one  of  the  most  liberal  constitutions  that  had  up  to  that 
time  been  adopted  by  any  state,  and  it  has  stood  the  test  of  fifty 
years — unaltered  except  in  a  few  minor  particulars. 

Long  before  congress  listened  to  the  appeal,  there  had  been  an 
agitation  with  a  view  to  statehood.  In  conection  with  this  subject, 
the  people  were  much  concerned  about  the  boundaries  of  the  future 
state.  Wisconsin  was  the  last  child  of  the  old  Northwest  territory, 
and  perforce  had  to  be  satisfied  to  take  what  was  left  of  the 
princely  patrimony.  According  to  the  compact  of  1787,  the  boun- 
daries of  this  state  were  to  include  what  has  become  the  Northern 
peninsula  of  Michigan,  the  northern  tier  of  Illinois  counties  and 
that  part  of  Minnesota  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  Had  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787  been  faithfully  observed,  the  cities  of  Chicago,  Duluth 
and  St.  Paul  would  now  be  within  the  boundaries  of  this  state.  In 
the  latter  days  of  the  territory  the  people  were  chiefly  concerned 
about  securing  their  southern  boundary  rights,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Northern  Illinois  strip  by  popular  vote  decided  that  they 
were  in  cordial  sympathy  with  the  idea.  The  territorial  council  of 
1843  adopted  resolutions  on  the  subject  as  fiercely  belligerent  as  the 
sentiments  which  the  fiery  South  Carolinians  enunciated  a  dozen 
years  later. 

219 


220 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


"Should  such  an  appeal  to  congress  be  Ineffectual,"  these  reso- 
lutions go  on  to  say,  "we  could  safely  intrench  ourselves  hehind 
the  ordinance  of  1787,  fortified  by  the  doctrine,  well  understood 
in  this  country,  that  all  political  communities  have  the  right  of 
governing  themselves  in  their  own  way,  within  their  lawful  boun- 
daries, and  take  for  ourselves  and  our  state  the  boundaries  fixed  by 
our  ordinance;  form  our  state  constitution,  which  would  be  repub- 
lican; apply  for  admission  into  the  Union  with  those  boundaries, 
and  if  refused  so  that  we  cannot  be  a  state  in  the  Union,  we  will 
be  a  state  out  of  the  Union,  and  possess,  exercise  and  enjoy  all  the 
rights,  privileges  and  powers  of  the  sovereign,  independent  state  of 


Nelson  Dewey. 
First  Governor  of  the  State. 


Wisconsin;  and  if  difficulties  ensue,  we  could  appeal  with  entire 
confidence  to  the  Great  Umpire  of  nations  to  adjust  them," 

Congress  paid  no  attention  to  this  defiant  attitude  assumed  by 
the  territorial  council.  It  was  important  that  Illinois  should  be 
kept  in  close  touch  with  the  North,  and  to  take  her  lake  coast  away 
would,  in  those  days  of  water  highways,  liave  made  the  Missis- 
sippi river  her  avenue  of  commerce,  and  her  interests  Southern. 
Congress  ignored  the  state  sovereignty  threat  that  came  from  a 
corner  of  the  Northwest,  and  the  framers  of  the  fiery  resolution 
cooled  their  ardor  without  attempting  to  secede. 

In  April,  1846,  a  vote  was  taken  to  determine  whether  the  ter- 
ritorial   government   should   be   replaced   by    a   state   government; 


The  Story  of  the  State.  221 


12,334  votes  were  cast  in  favor  of  the  proposition  and  2,984  in  the 
negative.  A  bill  was  then  pending  in  congress  to  admit  Wisconsin 
to  statehood.  This  bill  created  a  spirited  debate,  but  after  occa- 
sioning much  controversy,  finally  became  a  law. 

Many  of  the  leading  men  in  the  territory  were  members  of  the 
first  constitutional  convention,  which  met  at  Madison,  Octooer  6, 
1846.  The  membership  comprised  125  delegates,  and  it  is  note- 
worthy as  indicating  the  influences  then  preponderating  in  the  poli- 
tics of  the  state  that  forty-two  of  them  were  natives  of  New  York 
and  eighteen  of  Vermont,  together  constituting  half  the  member- 
ship. But  twelve  of  the  delegates  were  of  foreign  birth,  seven  of 
these  being  Irishmen,  three  Germans,  one  an  Englishman  and  the 
twelfth  a  native  of  Jamaica.  Their  occupations  also  furnish  an 
interesting  index  of  certain  phases  of  territorial  life;  there  were  69 
farmers,  26  lawyers,  7  mechanics,  6  merchants,  5  miners,  3  physi- 
cians, 2  lumbermen  and  1  miller;  the  occupations  of  the  others 
were  not  recorded.  It  may  be  added  that  the  twenty-six  lawyers 
practically  controlled  the  proceedings. 

The  people  voted  on  the  constitution  the  following  spring  and 
rejected  it;  For,  14,119;  against,  20,233.  This  verdict  was  the  result 
of  a  spirited  campaign,  in  the  course  of  which  the  proposed  consti- 
tution was  assailed  with  great  vigor  by  stump  speakers,  following 
being  seemingly  the  most  obnoxious  articles: 

1.  The  article  in  relation  to  the  rights  of  married  women,  giv- 
ing wives  separate  ownership  of  property. 

2.  The  bank  article,  absolutely  prohibiting  any  bank  of  issue 
and  making  it  unlawful  to  circulate  after  the  year  1847  any  bank 
note,  bill  or  certificate  issued  without  the  state,  of  a  denomination 
less  than  $10,  or  after  the  year  1849  of  a  denomination  less  than  ?20. 

3.  The  boundary  article,  according  to  which  the  lower  St.  Croix 
valley  was  excluded. 

There  were  other  ai'ticles  that  met  with  decided  opposition. 

"They  are  seeds  of  evil  which  will  produce  an  hundred  fold," 
one, distinguished  orator  prophesied.  Indeed,  if  the  words  of  the 
stump  speakers  were  to  be  believed,  the  adoption  of  the  unpopular 
constitution  meant  "ruin  to  the  peace,  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  people." 

It  was  believed  after  the  vote  was  taken  that  had  the  articles 
been  submitted  separately,  they  would  all  have  carried,  but  the 
combined  opposition  was  too  strong. 

There  was  submitted  at  the  same  time,  for  a  separate  vote,  a 
resolution  granting  equal  suffrage  and  the  right  to  hold  oflice.  to 
"all  male  citizens  of  African  blood"  possessing  the  same  qualifi- 
cations as  white  citizens.  This  was  also  rejected  by  a  decisive 
vote:  For,  7,564;  against,  14,615.  The  adverse  vote  was  particularly 
heavy  in  sections  where  there  was  a  preponderance  of  foreign-born 
citizens. 


222  Leading  Events  of  ^yisconsin  History. 

Like  the  first  constitutional  convention,  the  second  was  coimposed 
of  representative  men,  though  but  five  delegates  secured  reelection. 
New  Yorkers  constituted  a  large  element  in  the  convention.  The 
lawyers  numbered  nearly  a  third  of  the  delegates,  while  the  farmers 
comprised  but  slightly  less  than  half  of  the  entire  membership. 
They  met  Dec.  15,  1847,  and  the  present  constitution  was  the  result 
of  their  labors. 

In  many  respects,  if  not  in  most,  the  second  constitution  that 
was  submitted  to  the  people  was  similar  to  the  rejected  instrument, 
with  the  obnoxious  clauses  eomewhat  modified.  There  was  one 
important  addition,  in  that  provision  was  made  for  the  control  of 
corporations. 


Leonard  J.  Farwell. 
Second  Governor  of  the  State 


"This  power  to  alter  or  repeal  every  form  of  charter  that  can 
be  granted  by  the  state,"  one  of  the  members  afterwards  wrote, 
"is  by  far  the  most  important  feature  of  its  organic  law.  It  is  prop- 
erly recognized  now  as  the  very  bulwark  of  public  safety  from  the 
oppressive  encroachments  of  monopoly.  Its  omission,  either  pur- 
posely or  by  oversight,  from  the  first  constitution,  was  a  potent 
reason  amo-ng  the  more  thoughtful,  for  voting  to  reject  the  whole 
instrument." 

On  the  13th  of  March,  1848,  the  electors  ratified  the  constitution. 
The  ballot  was  the  essence  of  simplicity,  containing  the  word  "yes" 
or  the  word  "no,"  according  to  the  predilection  of  the  voter.  The 
vote  was  16,797  in  favor  of  ratification  and  6,383  against.  May  29th 
Wisconsin    was   admitted    as   a   state.     The   first   state    legislature 


The  Story  of  the  State.  223 

convened  June  5,  and  two  days  later  the  state  officers  were  sworn 
in  and  the  territorial  government  ceased  to  exist. 

Democrats  were  in  control  during  the  first  state  administration. 
Nelson  Dewey,  the  first  governor,  defeated  the  Whig  candidate,  John 
H.  Tweedy,  by  a  majority  of  5,0S9.  A  year  later  he  was  reelected  by 
5,332  majority  over  Collins,  Whig  candidate.  Two  years  later  the 
Whigs  succeeded  in  electing  their  candidate  for  governor,  Leonard 
J.  Farwell,  by  the  narrow  margin  of  507  votes  over  Don  J.  Upham, 
Democrat;  the  rest  of  the  Whig  nominees  were  defeated.  In  1854, 
the  Democrats  again  captured  the  gubernatorial  citadel,  the  suc- 
cessful nominee  being  William  A.  Barstow.  E.  D.  Holton  was 
anti-slavery  candidate  and  H.  S.  Baii'd  was  the  Whig  nominee.  The 
latter  polled  only  3,304  votes,  while  the  Holton  ticket  was  given 
21,886  votes.  Barstow's  plurality  was  8,519.  At  the  next  election 
Barstow  claimed  to  have  been  returned  by  157  plurality,  but  gross 
frauds  were  discovered,  and  the  Supreme  court  set  aside  his  cer- 
tificate in  favor  of  Coles  Bashford,  his  Republican  opponent.  For 
twenty  years  following  this  election  no  Democratic  candidate  was 
chosen  for  the  office  of  governor.  Alexander  W.  Randall  succeeded 
Bashford,  and  his  successor  was  L.  P.  Harvey.  Gov.  Harvey  met 
a  tragic  death  in  the  South,  and  the  lieutenant  governor,  E.  Salomon, 
succeeded  him. 

During  the  period  beginning  with  statehood  and  terminating 
with  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war,  political  feeling  ran  high. 
Many  men  availed  themselves  of  the  conditions  incident  to  the 
formative  epoch  of  a  commonwealth,  to  reap  riches  at  the  expense 
of  the  taxpayers.  The  natural  result  was  that  numerous  scandals 
came  to  the  surface.  The  clamor  of  spoils  politicians  over  the  dis- 
tribution of  offices  added  to  the  excitement  in  the  public  affairs  of 
the  new  state.  One  of  the  episodes  that  attracted  widespread  atten- 
tion was  the  impeachment  during  Gov.  Farwell's  term  of  Judge  Levi 
Hubbell.  Charges  were  filed  in  the  legislature  alleging  corruption 
and  malfeasance  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  and  a  committee 
of  the  assembly  promptly  presented  articles  of  impeachment.  The 
ablest  lawyers  in  the  state  were  arrayed  on  the  opposing  sides, 
among  them  E.  G.  Ryan  and  Jonathan  E.  Arnold.  The  trial  occurred 
in  the  senate  chamber  and  was  dramatic  in  incidents.  The  arraign- 
ment of  the  judge  by  E.  G.  Ryan  was  a  masterpiece  of  powerful 
invective  and  scathing  sarcasm.  Judge  Hubbell  was  as  ably  de- 
fended by  Jonathan  E.  Arnold  and  James  H.  Knowlton.  On  the  9th 
day  of  July,  1853,  amid  tense  suppressed  excitement  a  vote  was 
taken  and  the  judge  was  acquitted,  not  enough  votes  being  cast  for 
conviction  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  constitution. 

Another  public  scandal  that  created  much  excitement  resulted 
from  the  disposal  of  valuable  land  grants  to  railroads.  An  investi- 
gating committee  reported,  in  1856,  that  managers  of  one  of  the  rail- 


224  Leading  Events  of  Wiseonsiii  History. 

road  companies  had  been  "guilty  of  numerous  and  unparalleled  acts 
of  mismanagement,  gross  violation  of  duty,  fraud  and  plunder/' 
State  officers,  members  of  the  senate  and  assembly  and  other  offi- 
cials, including  some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  state,  were  impli- 
cated in  the  wholesale  bribery  which  the  lobbyists  of  the  corpora- 
tion were  instrumental  in  effecting.  The  investigating  committee 
reported  that  stocks  and  bonds  amounting  to  $175,000  had  been  dis- 
tributed among  thirteen  senators,  and  thirty-nine  members  of  the 
assembly  had  shared  stocks  and  bonds  valued  at  $355,000.  Three 
state  officials  were  alleged  to  have  received  $10,000  apiece.  Even  the 
governor  of  the  state  was  charged  with  benefiting  pecuniarily  from 
the  giving  of  the  land  grants.  An  investigating  committee  learned 
that  Gov.  Bashford  had  been  given  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $50,000 
as  a  gratuity,  but  that  the  gift  was  made  after  the  grant  had  been 
disposed  of  and  not  the  result  of  a  previous  understanding. 

The  colossal  scale  that  characterized  the  corruption  of  state 
officials  seems  to  have  affected  many  men  who  had  previously 
enjoyed  a  reputation  for  unimpeachable  probity.  It  is  related  that 
the  speaker  of  the  assembly  in  virtuous  indignation  strutted 
through  the  corridors  of  the  capitol  holding  aloft  a  roll  of  paper 
and  loudly  proclaiming  that  it  was  a  list  of  officials  who  had  been 
bribed  bj''  the  railroad  company.  This  dramatic  proclamation 
created  a  panic  among  the  legislators,  and  public  excitement  was 
intense.  Suddenly  the  speaker's  list  disappeared  and  his  voice  was 
heard  no  more  in  denunciation  of  official  corruption.  It  was  believed 
that  the  appearance  of  a  package  of  railroad  bonds  on  his  desk  from 
some  unknown  donor  had  much  to  do  with  the  disappearance  of  the 
list  of  unfaithful  officials. 

During  Gov.  Barstow's  term  a  scandal  resulted  from  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Land  department.  In  the  fall  of  1856  the  legis- 
lature appointed  an  investigating  committee,  and  a  shocking  state 
of  depravity  in  public  office  was  unearthed.  Political  favorites  had 
been  permitted  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  state  and 
the  public.  The  books  in  the  offices  of  the  treasurer  and  land 
commissioners  were  in  hopeless  confusion;  vouchers  were  missing; 
public  funds  could  not  be  accounted  for,  and  numerous  other  irregu- 
larities were  apparent. 

It  was  during  Gov.  Barstow's  administration  that  the  term 
"forty  thieves"  was  applied  to  the  lobbyists  and  officials  who  were 
shamelessly  plucking  the  state  to  feather  their  own  nests.  At  the 
capitol  they  established  headquarters  known  as  "Monk's  Hall,"  and 
there  the  monks  held  high  revel.  The  people  were  shocked  at  the 
brazen  effrontery  that  was  displayed,  and  sharp  controversies  arose. 

Despite  official  corruption  and  partisan  connivance  at  all  sorts 
of  irregularities,  the  state  made  remarkable  progress  during  the 
first  decade  of  its  career.     It  was  an  epoch  of  canal  building,  and 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


225 


much  attention  was  paid  to  the  Fox-Wisconsin  and  the  Rock  river 
canal  enterprises.  Both  eventually  resulted  in  failure  and  were 
prolific  sources  of  litigation.  Jan.  17,  1849,  the  first  telegram  was 
received  in  Milwaukee.  In  1851  the  first  railroad  train  was  run; 
the  line  was  from  Milwaukee  to  Waukesha,  having  been  two 
years  in  course  of  construction.  It  was  not  till  1857  that  rails 
spanned  the  state.  In  April  of  that  year  the  road  from  Milwaukee  to 
Prairie  du  Chien  was  completed  and  the  Mississippi  was  thus  com- 
mercially united  with  Lake  Michigan.    In  1850  the  State  university 


Isaac  P.  Walker,  Senator. 

(Henry  Dodge  and  Isaac  P.  Walker  were  Wisconsin's  first  United  States  Sen- 
ators. The  latter  was  a  brother  of  George  H.  Walker,  one  of  Milwaukee's  found- 
ers. For  voting  to  give  California  and  New  Mexico  a  government  that  did  not 
prohibit  slavery,  the  Legislature  of  Wisconsin  adopted  resolutions  instructing 
him  to  resign  his  seat.     He  declined  to  do  this.) 


was  formally  opened.  Emigrants  came  to  the  state  in  a  steady 
stream;  the  population  increased  enormously,  the  count  revealing 
nearly  100,000  more  residents  in  1850  than  on  the  date  of  the  state's 
assumption  of  statehood.  Provision  for  the  unfortunate  classes, 
begun  in  territorial  times,  was  amplified.  Important  "laws  supple- 
menting the  constitution  were  passed,  and  the  statutes  were  revised. 
By  the  time  that  Wisconsin  was  called  upon  to  share  in  the  struggle 
for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  a  more  healthful  moral  tone  pre- 
vailed in  its  public  life  than  the  beginnings  of  statehood,  with  their 
attendant  scandals,  had  promised. 


CHAPTER  II. 

RESCUE   OF  JOSHUA   GLOVER,   A   RUNAWAY   SLAVE. 

Some  of  the  events  of  a  political  character  that  occurred  during 
the  early  days  of  statehood  deserve  more  than  a  casual  mention. 
Among  them  were  the  following:  An  attack  by  a  mob  on  the  resi- 
dence of  Sta,te  Senator  Smith  of  Milwaukee,  on  account  of  an  obnox- 
ious liquor  law;  threatened  civil  war  due  to  a  contest  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  governor's  office,  after  a  close  and  exciting  election. 
In  1856;  rescue  of  Joshua  Glover,  a  fugitive  slave,  from  the  jail  at 
Milwaukee;  the  birth  of  the  Republican  party. 

The  Glover  episode  became  a  celebrated  case  elsewhere  than  in 
Wisconsin;  here  it  stirred  public  excitement  to  fever  pitch  and  pro- 
foundly affected  the  course  of  future  events  in  politics.  Joshua 
Glover  was  a  runaway  slave,  who  sought  asylum  in  Racine  in  the 
early  part  of  the  year  1854.  Racine  was  a  way  station  on  the  route 
of  the  underground  railway,  and  the  abolition  sentiment  had  made 
considerable  headway  among  its  people.  The  colored  slave  found 
employment  in  a  mill.  Learning  his  whereabouts,  the  Missouri 
master  of  the  slave,  one  B.  S.  Garland,  procured  a  process  in  the 
United  States  District  court  and  proceeded  to  Glover's  shanty  in 
company  with  two  deputy  United  States  marshals.  Glover  was  in 
his  little  shanty  engaged  in  playing  cards  when  his  master  and  the 
marshals  surprised  him  by  their  appearance.  He  jumped  up,  and  as 
he  resisted  arrest,  one  of  the  deputies  knocked  him  down  with  a 
club  and  leveled  a  pistol  at  his  head,  while  the  others  handcuffed 
him.  In  the  words  of  Sherman  M.  Booth,  whose  subsequent  connec- 
tion with  the  case  gave  him  national  notoriety,  the  slave  "was 
knocked  down  and  handcuffed,  dumped  mangled  and  bleeding  into 
a  democrat  wagon,  and  with  a  marshal's  foot  on  his  neck  taken  to 
Milwaukee  and  thrust  into  the  county  jail." 

Pursuit  having  been  anticipated,  the  officers  made  their  way  to 
Milwaukee  by  a  circuitous  route.  The  alarm  had  been  given,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  soon  learned  that  a  negro  accused  of  fleeing  from 
his  slave  pen  had  been  incarcerated  in  the  jail  at  Milwaukee.  When 
a  hundred  determined  men  landed  by  boat  from  Racine,  formed  In 
line  and  marched  toward  the  jail,  public  excitement  in  Milwaukee 
grew  intense  Great  crowds  congregated  about  the  county  jail  and 
gathered  in  tee  grounds  adjacent  to  the  courthouse.  There  a  great 
indignation  meeting  was  held  that  ended  in  the  storming  of  the  jail 
and  the  rescue  of  Glover.  Sherman  M.  Booth,  editor  of  The  Free 
Democrat,  who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  courthouse  meeting, 
according  to  the  popular  account  of  the  affair  rode  up  and  down  the 
streets  on  a  white  horse  summoning  the  people  to  gather,  shouting 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


227 


the  rallying  cry:  "Freemen,  to  the  rescue!"  Mr.  Booth,  in  a  recent 
address,  denied  many  of  the  statements  that  have  remained  unchal- 
lenged for  more  than  forty  years.  He  said  that  he  did  not  shout 
"Freemen,  to  the  rescue!"  and  that  he  never  advised  the  forcible 
rescue  of  Glover.  What  he  did  say,  was:  "All  freemen  who  are 
opposed  to  being  made  slaves  or  slave-catchers  turn  out  to  a  meeting 
in  the  courthouse  square  at  2  o'clock!"  Ringing  resolutions  were 
adopted  insisting  on  the  slave's  right  to  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus 


Sherman  M.  Booth. 
From  a  Recent  Photograph. 


and  a  trial  by  jury.  A  local  judge  issued  such  a  writ,  but  the 
refusal  of  the  federal  officers  to  recognize  its  validity  led  to  the  bat- 
tering in  of  the  jail  doors. 

Glover's  rescue  gave  rise  to  many  legal  complications  and  a 
great  deal  of  litigation.  The  sheriff  of  Racine  county  arrested  the 
slave-master  and  those  who  had  aided  in  the  capture  of  the  fugitive, 
on  a  charge  of  assault.  Garland  obtained  his  release  on  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus.  In  the  meantime  the  underground  railway  had  con- 
veyed the  slave  to  Canada.  Booth  was  arrested,  and  a  grand  jury 
found  a  bill  of  indictment  against  him  and  two  others.    He  appealed 


228  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  Eistory. 

to  the  Supreme  court  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The  learned 
judges  read  long  opinions  declaring  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  of  1850 
unconstitutional. 

"They  will  never  consent,"  Judge  Smith  declared,  in  referring 
to  the  right  of  the  states  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  "that  a 
slave-owner,  his  agent,  or  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  armed 
with  process  to  arrest  a  fugitive  from  service,  is  clothed  with  entire 
immunity  from  state  authority;  to  commit  whatever  crime  or  out- 
rage against  the  laws  of  the  state;  that  their  own  high  prerogative 
writ  of  ihabeas  corpus  shall  be  annulled,  their  authority  defied,  their 
olBcers  resisted,  the  process  of  their  own  courts  contemned,  their 
territory  invaded  by  federal  force,  the  houses  of  their  citizens 
searched,  the  sanctuary  of  their  homes  invaded,  their  streets  and 
public  places  made  the  scenes  of  tumultuous  and  armed  violence,  and 
state  sovereignty  succumb — paralyzed  and  aghast — ^before  the 
process  of  an  officer  unknown  to  the  constitution  and  irresponsible  to 
its  sanctions.  At  least,  such  shall  not  become  the  degradation  of 
Wisconsin,  without  meeting  as  stern  remonstrance  and  resistance 
as  I  may  be  able  to  interpose,  so  long  as  her  people  impose  upon  me 
the  duty  of  guarding  their  rights  and  liberties,  and  of  maintaining 
the  dignity  and  sovereignty  of  their  state." 

In  his  speech  before  the  United  States  court  commissioner,  Win- 
field  Smith,  Booth  defended  himself  vigorously.  He  denied  that  he 
had  counseled  or  aided  in  the  escape  of  the  runaway  slave,  but  he 
made  no  secret  of  his  sympathy  with  the  feelings  of  the  mob  that 
forced  the  jail. 

"I  am  frank  to  say,"  he  declared  with  emphasis — "and  the  prose- 
cution may  make  the  most  of  it,  that  I  sympathize  with  the  res- 
cuers of  Glover  and  rejoice  at  his  escape.  I  rejoice  that,  in  the  first 
attempt  of  the  slave-hunters  to  convert  our  jail  into  a  slave-pen  and 
our  citizens  into  slave-catchers,  they  have  signally  failed,  and  that 
it  has  been  decided  by  the  spontaneous  uprising  and  sovereign  voice 
of  the  people,  that  no  human  being  can  be  dragged  into  bondage 
from  Milwaukee.  And  I  am  bold  to  say  that,  rather  than  have  the 
great  constitutional  rights  and  safeguards  of  the  people — the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  and  the  right  of  trial  by  jury — stricken  down  by 
this  fugitive  law,  I  would  prefer  to  see  every  federal  officer  in  Wis- 
consin hanged  on  a  gallows  fifty  cubits  higher  than  Haman's." 

Before  the  Supreme  court,  Byron  Paine  made  an  argument  In 
behalf  of  Booth  that  attracted  attention  all  over  the  country.  It 
was  printed  in  pamphlet  form  and  circulated  on  the  streets  of  Bos- 
ton by  the  thousands.  Charles  Sumner  and  Wendell  Phillips  wrote 
the  author  letters  of  hearty  approval  and  commending  his  force  of 
logic  and  able  presentation  of  argument.  This  pamphlet  is  now 
excessively  rare;  but  half  a  dozen  copies  are  now  known  to  exist. 

Booth  was  discharged  from  imprisonment  by  the  Supreme  court 
on  the  ground  of  irregularities  in  the  warrant.    This  did  not  end  the 


^MMSA^^^y^ 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


229 


case.  The  United  States  Supreme  court  reversed  the  action  of  the 
state  court.  Booth  and  John  Rycraft  were  tried  in  January,  1855, 
for  violation  of  the  act  and  were  found  guilty.  The  sentences 
imposed  were: 

Sherman  M.  Booth — Imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  one  month; 
a  fine  of  $1,000  and  the  costs  of  prosecution. 

John  Rycraft— Imprisonment  for  ten  days;  fine  of  ?200  without 
costs. 


Byron  Paine. 


The  owner  of  the  rescued  slave  also  brought  suit  against  Booth 
for  the  value  of  Glover  and  obtained  judgment  in  the  United  States 
District  court  for  $1,000,  representing  the  value  of  a  negro  slave  as 
fixed  by  the  act  of  congress  passed  in  1850.  It  is  said  that  the  liti- 
gation in  which  Booth  became  entangled  as  the  result  of  the  Glover 
episode  ruined  him  financially.  The  Glover  episode  and  attendant 
circumstances  were  potent  factors  in  creating  an  abolition  senti- 
ment in  Wisconsin.  In  1857  the  legislature  enacted  a  law  "to  pre- 
vent kidnaping,"  its  purpose  being  to  prevent  the  capture  of  fugi- 
tive slaves  seeking  asylum  in  this  state. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON   THE   VERGE   OF   CIVIL   WAR. 

Civil  war  threatened  to  convulse  the  people  of  the  state  in  1856 
as  the  result  of  a  bitter  contest  for  the  office  of  governor.  No  gov- 
ernor ever  had  warmer  friends  or  bitterer  enemies  than  William  A. 
Barstow.  The  Democrats  renominated  him  in  the  fall  of  1855,  while 
the  Republicans  placed  Coles  Basliford  in  nomination.  Many  scan- 
dals during  Gov.  Barstow's  term  gave  the  Republicans  an  oppor- 
tunity to  vigorously  attack  his  administration,  and  such  terms  as 
the  "Forty  Thieves"  and  "Barstow  and  the  Balance"  passed  into 
current  language  in  the  course  of  the  campaign.  The  entire  machin- 
ery of  election  was  in  Democratic  hands.  When  the  state  canvass- 
ers declared  Barstow  reelected  by  a  majority  of  157,  his  opponents 
loudly  proclaimed  that  a  fraud  had  been  committed,  and  that  the 
returns  had  been  doctored  in  the  interest  of  the  governor.  Party 
newspapers  made  such  an  outcry  that  political  passions  were 
Inflamed  to  a  point  that  threatened  personal  collision  between  the 
factions  at  the  capital. 

Undaunted  by  the  charges  of  fraud,  Gov.  Barstow  prepared  for 
his  installation.  Early  in  January,  seven  companies  of  militia 
arrived  in  Madison,  marched  to  the  governor's  residence  and 
escorted  him  to  the  capitol,  where  two  thousand  persons  awaited 
his  appearance  and  that  of  the  other  state  oflScers.  With  much  cere- 
mony they  proceeded  to  the  senate  chamber,  where  the  usual  oath  of 
oflBce  was  administered. 

In  the  meantime  Coles  Bashford  had  quietly  gone  to  the  court- 
room of  the  Supreme  court,  and  Chief  Justice  Whiton  administered 
the  oath  of  governor.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  attorneys  of  the 
state  had  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  Bashford,  including 
Timothy  0.  Howe,  E.  G.  Ryan,  Alexander  W.  Randall  and  J.  H. 
Knowlton.  By  their  advice,  Bashford  proceeded  to  the  executive 
ofiice  and  formally  demanded  possession.  Gov.  Barstow  refused  to 
yield,  and  the  contest  was  thereupon  transferred  to  the  Supreme 
court.  Here  much  legal  sparring  ensued,  Jonathan  E.  Arnold,  Har- 
low S.  Orton  and  Matt.  H.  Carpenter  representing  the  governor  who 
had  nine  points  of  possession. 

Tremendous  excitement  ensued  all  over  the  state.  Partisans  of 
the  contestants  prepared  for  the  seemingly  inevitable  encounter  by 
arming  themselves;  it  seemed  that  an  appeal  to  physical  force  would 
follow  the  appeal  to  the  law.  The  result  of  the  court's  inquiry  was 
awaited  with  intense  concern  by  conservative  men  who  feared  the 
consequences. 

230 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


231 


The  counsel  of  the  contestant  won  at  every  point  in  their  con- 
tention before  the  court,  and  finally  Barstow  withdrew  from  the 
case,  claiming  that  political  prejudices  prevented  fairness  of  treat- 
ment, and  further  denying  the  right  of  the  court  to  go  behind  the 
returns.  Forseeing  the  outcome  he  sent  his  resignation  as  governor 
to  the  legislature,  hoping  to  prevent  the  seating  of  Bashford 
by  installing  as  governor  the  duly-elected  lieutenant-governor. 
Arthur  McArthur.  It  was  a  shrewd  move,  but  BashfoTd's  lawyers 
were  prepared  for  it.  They  held  that  McArthur  could  gain  no  rights 
to  the  office  of  governor  through  the  resignation  of  a  fraudulently- 


Gov.  William  A.  Barstow. 


elected  incumbent.  The  court  went  on  with  the  inquiry,  and  found 
gross  forgeries  of  election  returns.  Their  amended  count  gave 
Bashford  a  majority  of  1,009,  and  they  declared  him  entitled  to  the 
office  of  governor. 

Instead  of  yielding  gracefully,  McArthur  announced  that  he 
would  hold  on  at  all  hazards.  On  the  day  that  the  court  rendered 
its  decision,  March  24,  great  crowds  flocked  to  the  capitol,  with  a 
grim  and  determined  air  that  boded  ill.  The  corridors  leading 
to  the  executive  office  were  packed  with  men  favorable  to  Bashford 
and  determined  to  maintain  such  rights  as  the  court  would  allow 
him.  AS  he  appeared,  in  company  with  the  sheriff,  who  had  the 
court's  order  in  possession,  a  great  cheer  announced  his  coming  to 
those  within.     Gov.  Bashford  rapped  at  the  door  and  entered.     He 


232 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


at  once  made  himself  at  home  by  doffing  his  overcoat  and  hanging 
it  on  a  peg,  pleasantly  remarking  to  Mr.  McArthur  that  he  had  come 
to  take  possession. 

"Do  you  intend  to  use  force  in  expelling  me?"  wrathfuUy 
inquired  the  young  lieutenant-governor. 

"Not  unless  necessary,"  blandly  interposed  Bashford,  "but  I 
have  been  invested  with  certain  rights,  and  I  intend  to  exercise 
them." 

"1  must  regard  your  threat  as  constructive  force,"  retorted 
McArthur,  "and  I  leave  under  protest." 

With  that  he  marched  out,  followed  by  his  private  secretary  and 
other  friends  who  had  been  by  his  side  to  hold  the  fort.     As  he 


Gov.  Coles  Bashford. 


marched  out,  the  crowd  jeered  and  thronged  into  the  executive 
office  to  shake  the  governor  by  the  hand.  The  enemy  had  been  dis- 
possessed with  scarcely  a  struggle  and  the  unexpected  ending  made 
the  crowd  good-humored.  Among  Barstow's  adherents  outside  an 
ugly  feeling  prevailed,  and  it  was  only  by  the  wise  counsel  and  per- 
sonal efforts  of  the  cooler  heads  that  their  dispersal  was  secured. 
Had  a  conflict  been  precipitated,  there  is  no  doubt  that  dreadful 
consequences  would  have  occurred. 

For  a  time  the  assembly  refused  to  recognize  the  new  governor, 
but  finally  did  so.  The  lieutenant-governor  resumed  his  place  as 
presiding  officer  of  the  senate,  and  the  troubled  waters  subsided. 

The  case  was  a  notable  one.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
tihe  country  had  a  Supreme  court  been  asked  to  oust  a  governor 


Tlie  Story  of  the  State. 


233 


and  seat  a  contestant.  The  lawyers  engaged  in  the  case  were  among 
the  greatest  who  ever  practiced  at  the  bar  in  the  Northwest.  Jona- 
than E.  Arnold  and  J.  K.  Knowlton  were  regarded  as  lawyers  of 
exceptional  power;  E.  G.  Ryan  became  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme 
court  of  the  state,  and  so  did  Harlow  S.  Orton;  Matt.  H.  Carpenter 
died  a  senator  of  the  United  States;  Timothy  Howe  and  Alexander 
Randall  served  as  cabinet  officers,  each  occupying  the  position  of 
postmaster-general. 

Although  the  crisis  passed  without  bloodshed,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  needed  but  a  breath  to  fan  the  flame  into  tremendous  pro- 
portions. 

"We  had  arrived  at  the  verge  of  revolutionary  times,"  the  pri- 
vate secretary  of  Gov.  Barstow  afterwards  wrote,  "and  were  rapidly 
drifting  toward  the  vortex  wherein  tJhe  entire  fabric  of  our  govern- 
ment was  to  be  endangered.  So  highly  had  the  passions  of  men 
been  wrought  up   by  the  political  contest  in  which  we  were  im- 


J.  H.  Tweedy. 
First  Whig  Candidate  for  Governor  of  the  State. 


mersed,  that  it  was  at  one  time  dangerously  near  a  collision;  and 
those  who  were  then  best  cognizant  of  the  prevailing  feeling  well 
knew  that  had  a  drop  of  blood  been  shed  here — one  life  of  a  parti- 
san on  either  side  been  taken  in  anger,  the  flame  of  civil  war  would 
have  broken  out,  and  would  have  raged  until  quenched,  as  it  al- 
ways has  been  and  must  be." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BIRTH  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  IN  WISCONSIN. 

"The  Republican  party  had  its  birth  in  the  great  Northwest," 
said  James  G.  Blaine  in  a  speech  delivered  in  Milwaukee  in  1884, 
during  his  great  campaigning  tour  while  a  presidential  nominee. 
It  has  been  claimed  that  Ripon,  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  was  the 
baptismal  font  of  the  party  that  held  uninterrupted  control  of  the 
national  administration  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  following  the 
commencement  of  the  civil  war,  but  this  claim  is  disputed. 

The  immediate  impulse  that  led  to  the  Ripon  meeting  of  the 
party,  on  the  last  day  of  February  in  1854,  was  the  feeling  excited 
by  the  Nebraska  bill  pending  in  congress.  Three  Whigs,  one  Free 
Seller  and  a  Democrat  were  responsible  for  the  first  attempt  to 
create  the  Republican  party.  A.  E.  Bovey  was  their  spokesman. 
The  meeting  was  held  in  a  little  church  building  on  College  hill,  in 
the  village  of  Ripon,  and  here  ringing  resolutions  were  adopted  in 
condemnation  of  the  Nebraska  Slavery  bill.  In  its  issue  of  Feb.  2, 
1854,  this  notice  appeared  in  modest  type  in  The  Ripon  Herald: 

NEBRASKA. 

A  meeting  vnW  be  held  at  6V2  o'clock  this  (Wednesday)  evening, 
at  the  Congregational  church  in  the  village  of  Ripon,  to  remonstrate 
against  the  Nebraska  swindle.     Come  all.  MANY  CITIZENS. 

Another  meeting  was  held  three  weeks  later,  and  at  this 
time  a  suggestion  was  made  that  the  new  party  which  it  seemed 
would  soon  be  formed  should  be  called  the  Republican  party.  This 
initial  meeting  created  the  ripple  that  gradually  radiated  all  over 
the  country.  A  state  convention  was  held  in  July  and  an  organiza- 
tion was  perfected. 

The  fall  of  the  year  when  these  meetings  set  in  motion  the 
formation  of  the  Republican  party,  Wisconsin  sent  to  the  national 
halls  of  legislation  a  delegation  made  up  of  a  Republican  majority 
and  a  Democratic  minority.  Charles  Durkee,  a  Free-Soiler,  was 
elected  United  States  senator,  and  thus  national  recognition  was 
secured  for  the  new  party.  Two  years  later  the  first  National 
Republican  convention  was  held,  and  John  C.  Fremont  was  nom- 
inated for  president. 

234 


CHAPTER  V. 

STRANGE   STORY    OF  A   SPURIOUS    LOST   PRINCE. 

From  a  magazine  article  printed  in  1853  grew  a  romantic  story 
that  the  long-lost  dauphin  of  France  had  been  located  in  Green 
Bay,  in  the  person  of  one  Fueazer  Williams.  The  question  was  seri- 
ously discussed  in  newspaper  articles  and  editorials,  and  a  book 
appeared  entitled  "The  Lost  Prince,"  giving  in  great  detail  the  cir- 
cumstances purporting  to  prove  the  identity  of  the  obscure  Wiscon- 
sin villager  as  the  heir  to  the  throne  of  France.  Fortified  by  numer- 
ous coincidences,  the  story  seemed  plausible,  and  many  persons 
were  led  to  believe  that  Louis  XVII.  had  actually  been  found  in  a 
remote  frontier  settlement  of  America  after  the  lapse  of  more  than 
half  a  century  following  his  mysterious  disappearance  from  the 
Tower  of  the  Temple. 

At  the  same  time  Williams  claimed  that,  ten  years  before,  the 
Prince  de  Joinville  had  visited  him  in  Green  Bay,  had  confided  to 
him  the  secret  of  his  royal  birth  and  endeavored  to  extort  from 
him  a  renunciation  of  his  rights  to  the  throne  of  France. 

Dreams  of  royalty  had  come  to  Eleazer  Williams  long  before  the 
visit  of  the  French  prince,  in  1841.  A  decade  or  more  before  Wis- 
consin became  a  territory,  Williams  had  developed  the  ambitious 
project  of  co'uverting  this  region  into  an  Indian  empire.  The  plant- 
ing of  the  Stockbridge  and  Brothertown  Indian  settlements  in  Wis- 
consin resulted,  but  his  hopes  of  a  great  Indian  domain,  where  he 
might  reign,  were  doomed  to  fade  away  unrealized.  He  was  then  a 
young  man;  he  had  lived  until  his  fourteenth  year  among  the  St. 
Regis  Indians  and  exerted  great  control  over  the  Indians  of  New 
York.  His  mother,  whom  he  repudiated  in  order  to  carry  out  his 
part  as  the  son  of  the  unfortunate  queen  Marie  Antoinette,  was  a 
member  of  this  tribe  of  Indians.  His  great-grandmother  was  a  white 
woman,  and  through  her  Williams  could  trace  descent  from  distin- 
guished Puritan  ancestors.  A  survivor  of  the  historic  Deerfleld 
massacre,  she  had  been  carried  as  a  young  girl  into  captivity,  and 
spent  her  life  among  the  Indians,  becoming  the  wife  of  a  chieftain. 
Early  in  his  career,  Eleazer  Williams  undertook  evangelizing 
work  among  the  Indians  of  New  York,  becoming  successively  Cath- 
olic, Congregationalist,  and  finally  a  priest  of  the  Episcopal  church. 
It  was  while  thus  engaged  that  he  conceived  the  idea  of  removing 
the  New  York  Indians  to  Wisconsin  and  there  organizing  a  great 
federation  of  aborigines.  In  1820  he  made  his  first  Western  trip, 
but  numerous  obstacles  prevented  Williams  from  carrying  out  his 
plans.  Persisting  in  his  scheme,  finally  John  C.  Calhoun  was  per- 
suaded to  favor  it.     That  ardent  Southerner  was  led  to  foster  the 

235 


236 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


enterprise  because  he  hoped  that  the  founding  of  a  great  Indian 
confederation,  in  this  region  would  prevent  the  organization  of  more 
free  states  out  of  the  territory  of  the  old  Northwest.  Through  Cal- 
houn's aid  Williams  was  thus  enabled  to  make  another  attempt — 
this  time  under  government  patronage. 

It  was  necessary  to  secure  the  consent  of  the  Menomonee  and 
Winnebago  Indians  for  the  proposed  migration  to  their  lands.    Wil- 


Eleazer  Williams  as  a  Young  Man. 
From  a  Picture  in  "The  Lost  Prince." 


liams  arranged  for  a  great  council  of  the  tribes  at  Green  Bay.  Pre- 
liminary to  the  treaty,  the  Winnebago  warriors  entertained  the 
visitors  with  a  great  war  dance.  The  whole  tribe  was  assembled  in 
front  of  the  agency  house.  An  eye-witness,  Gen.  A.  G.  Ellis,  has 
left  a  graphic  account  of  the  affair,  in  his  "Fifty-Four  Years'  Recol- 
lections": 

"The  war  dance  was  a  sight  to  test  the  nerves  of  the  stoutest 
heart,"  says  his  account.     "The  Winnebagoes  at  that  time  were  in 


The  Story  of  the  State.  237 

all  their  perfection  of  savage  wildness;  2,000  of  them — men  and 
women,  old  and  young — were  massed  in  a  circle,  standing  fifty  deep; 
the  whites,  army  oflleers,  in  the  inner  ring,  and  the  warrior  dancers, 
drummers  and  singers  in  the  center.  Twenty  of  their  most  stalwart 
young  warriors  took  their  places  with  not  a  thread  of  clothing  save 
the  breechcloth;  but  all  painted  in  most  gorgeous  colors,  and  espe- 
cially the  faces,  with  circles  of  black,  white,  red,  green  and  blue 
around  the  eyes,  giving  the  countenances  expressions  indescribably 
fierce  and  hideous;  all  armed  with  tomahawks,  knives  and  spears. 
At  first  the  dance  was  slow,  to  measured  time  of  the  drum  and 
song;  for  there  were  a  hundred  singers,  with  the  voice  of  the 
drummer,  both  male  and  female — the  latter  prevailing  above  the 
former.  Soon  they  began  to  wax  warm,  the  countenances  assumed 
unearthly  expressions  of  fierceness;  their  tread  shook  the  solid  earth, 
and  their  yells  at  the  end  of  each  cadence  rent  the  very  (heavens. 
None  could  endure  the  scene,  unmoved,  unappalled." 

Upon  conclusion  of  the  dance,  the  Winnebagoes  prepared  to 
depart;  in  an  hour  not  one  of  them  remained.  With  them  vanished 
the  dream  of  empire  nurtured  so  fondly  by  Williams.  A  treaty  was 
made  with  the  Menomonees  and  small  bodies  of  New  York  Indians 
were  brought  from  New  York,  but  the  grand  scheme  of  an  Indian 
empire  collapsed  entirely. 

Williams  made  Green  Bay  his  home,  and  here  in  1823  he  mar- 
ried pretty  Madeline  Jourdain.  She  was  but  14  years  old,  and  the 
match  was  of  her  parents'  making,  for  her  heart  had  been  given  to 
a  young  Frenchman  whose  poverty  did  not  commend  him  to  the  old 
folks. 

For  many  years  Eleazer  Williams  lived  in  obscurity.  A  chance 
remark  that  he  resembled  the  royal  Bourbons,  it  is  believed,  first 
gave  to  him  the  clue  to  his  pretensions  of  later  years.  In  1841  the 
Prince  de  Joinville,  a  son  of  Louis  Philippe,  made  a  journey  in 
America.  In  the  course  of  his  travels  he  went  to  Green  Bay,  and 
here  is  said  to  have  occurred  the  celebrated  interview  fhat  was  made 
so  much  of  in  establishing  the  claims  of  Eleazer  Williams  as  the 
long-lost  dauphin  of  France.  When  the  prince  began  his  journey 
to  the  West,  Williams  was  in  New  York.  He  hurried  towards  his 
old  home  to  meet  the  royal  traveler,  and  at  Mackinac  boarded  the 
steamer  whereon  the  prince  was  a  guest.  The  attention  paid  by  the 
prince  to  the  missionary  priest  was  so  pronounced  as  to  arouse  the 
curiosity  of  the  tourists  on  the  boat.  According  to  the  account  of 
Williams,  written  twelve  years  later,  the  prince  requested  him  to 
come  to  his  room  at  the  hotel  at  Green  Bay,  as  he  had  a  communi- 
cation of  great  importance  to  make  to  him.  What  there  occurred  is 
best  told  in  the  words  of  Williams: 

"I  found  the  prince  alone,  with  the  exception  of  one  attendant, 
whom  he  dismissed.     .     .     .    The  prince  spoke  to  this  effect: 


238 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


"You  have  been  accustomed,  sir,  to  consider  yourself  a  native  of 
this  country;  but  you  are  not.  You  were  bom  in  Europe,  sir,  and 
however  incredible  it  may  at  first  seem  to  you,  I  have  to  tell  you 
that  you  are  the  son  of  a  king.  There  ought  to  be  much  consolation 
to  you  to  know  this  fact.  You  have  suffered  a  great  deal,  and  have 
been  brought  very  low,  but  you  have  not  suffered  more  nor  been 
more  degraded  than  my  father,  who  was  long  in  exile  and  poverty 
in  this  country;  but  there  is  this  difference  between  him  and  you, 
that  he  was  all  along  aware  of  his  high  birth,  whereas  you  have 
been  spared  the  knowledge  of  your  origin." 


Eleazer  Williams  as  an  Episcopal  Priest. 
From  a  Painting  at  Madison. 

Williams,  in  his  journal,  describes  his  own  agitation  over  the 
astounding  disclosure,  and  relates  that  while  in  this  state  of  mind 
the  prince  produced  a  document  and  asked  him  to  sign  it. 

"The  prince  arose  and  went  to  his  trunk,  which  was  in  the 
room,  and  took  from  it  a  parchment  which  he  laid  on  the  table  and 
set  before  me,  that  I  might  read  and  give  him  my  determination  in 
regard  to  it.  There  were  also  on  the  table  pen  and  ink  and  wax,  and 
he  placed  there  a  governmental  seal  of  France— the  one,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  used  under  the  old  monarchy.     It  was  of  precious  metal. 


.>^, 


The  Story  of  the  State.  239 

but  whether  of  gold  or  silver,  or  a  compound  of  both,  I  cannot  say. 
.  .  .  The  document  which  the  prince  placed  before  me  was  very 
handsomely  written,  in  double  parallel  columns  of  French  and 
English.  I  continued  intently  reading  and  considering  it,  for  a 
space  of  four  or  five  hours.  During  this  time  the  prince  left  me 
undisturbed,  remaining  for  the  most  part  in  the  room,  but  he  went 
out  three  or  four  times. 

"The  purport  of  the  document,  which  I  read  repeatedly  word  by 
word,  comparing  the  French  with  the  English,  was  this:  It  was  a 
solemn  abdication  of  the  crown  of  France  in  favor  of  Louis  Philippe, 
by  Charles  Louis,  the  son  of  Louis  XVI,  who  was  styled  Louis  XVII, 
king  of  France  and  Navarre,  with  all  accompanying  names  and 
titles  of  honor,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  old  French  mon- 
archy, together  with  a  minu.e  specification  in  legal  phraseology  of 
the  conditions  and  considerations  and  provisos,  upon  which  the 
abdication  is  made.  These  conditions  were,  in  brief,  that  a  princely 
establisihment  should  be  secured  to  me  either  in  this  country  or  in 
France,  at  my  option,  and  that  Louis  Philippe  would  pledge  himself 
on  his  part  to  secure  the  restoration,  or  an  equivalent  for  it,  of  all 
the  private  property  of  the  royal  family  rightfully  belonging  to  me, 
which  had  been  confiscated  in  France  during  the  Revolution,  or  in 
any  way  got  intO'  their  hands." 

If  the  story  of  Williams  is  to  be  believed,  the  upshot  of  his  inter- 
view with  the  prince  was  the  refusal  of  the  tempting  offer.  He  gave 
the  answer  that  De  Provence  gave  to  the  ambassador  of  Napoleon 
at  Warsaw:  "Though  I  am  in  poverty  and  exile,  I  will  not  sacrifice 
my  honor." 

For  twelve  years  Williams  gave  no  intimation  of  the  nature  of 
the  interview  between  Prince  de  Joinville  and  himself.  When  the 
above  version  found  its  way  into  print,  copies  were  sent  to  the 
prince,  in  France.  An  emphatic  and  indignant  denial  was  sent  by 
the  prince  to  America.  A  number  of  clergymen  hastened  to  the 
defense  of  Eleazer  Williams,  and  a  mass  of  testimony  was  com- 
piled that  convinced  many  persons  of  intelligence  and  standing 
that  the  claim  of  Williams  to  royal  birth  was  based  on  fact.  The 
literature  on  this  subject — and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  it — is  proof 
that  a  strong  chain  of  circumstantial  evidence  can  be  forged  from 
numerous  trivial  and  disassociated  facts.  The  royal  pretensions  of 
Eleazer  Williams  were  undoubtedly  evolved  from  fiction,  yet  so  well 
sustained  were  they  that  but  recently  a  reputable  London  publisher 
has  issued  from  the  press  a  thick  volume  devoted  to  the  massing  of 
evidence  in  support  of  the  Williams  claim.  All  this  evidence  has 
been  torn  to  shreds,  however,  by  a  searching  and  critical  analysis 
to  whioh  it  has  been  subjected  by  another  writer  on  the  subject,  W. 
W.  Wight,  in  a  Parkman  club  publication  entitled  "Eleazer  Wil- 
liams— His   Forerunners,    Himself."     The   cunning   of   Williams   in 


240 


Leading  Ecents  of  ll'iscoHsi//  History. 


cleverly   manufacturing   the   evidence   to   bolster   his   imposture   is 
here  conclusively  shown. 

The  lost  dauphin  of  France  was  the  second  son  of  Louis  XVI, 
and  Marie  Antoinette,  both  of  whom  fell  victims  to  the  fury  of  the 
French  revolutionists.  The  child  disappeared  from  the  Tower  of  the 
Temple  June  8,  1795,  and  was  asserted  to  have  died.  His  jailer, 
Simon,  was  a  brutal  shoemaker  whom  the  troubled  times  brought 
to  the  front  and  placed  in  his  position.  He  ill-treated  the  young  boy 
in  ways  that  showed  as  much  ingenuity  as  they  did  cruelty.     On 


THE   JOURDAIN    RESIDENCE. 
REPRODUCED    FROM    "HISTORIC    GREEN    BAY." 

(It  was  in  this  liumble  cottage  tliat  the  claimant  to  the  throne  of  France 
married  his  bride  of  14.  The  union  was  an  unhappy  one.  Pretty  Madeline  Jour- 
dain  had  plighted  her  troth  with  a  young  French  trader,  but  yielded  to  parental 
influence  and  gave  her  hand  to  Eleazer  Williams.) 


one  occasion  Williams  was  shown  a  photograph  of  this  man,  with- 
out being  told  whom  it  represented. 

"My  God,  I  have  seen  that  face  before,"  he  ejaculated.  "It  has 
haunted  me  through  life." 

A  look-  of  pain  came  over  his  face,  and  he  became  greatly 
excited. 

It  was  known  that  Simon,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  struck  the  dauphin 
on  the  head  with  a  towel  which  he  hastily  jerked  from  its  place  on 
the  wall.  The  nail  on  wihich  it  hung  came  out  with  it,  and  inflicted 
a  wound  on  the  child's  forehead  that  left  a  deep  scar.  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams had  just  such  a  scar. 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


241 


The  dauphin  had  scrofulous  scars  on  the  knees.  Eleazer  Wil- 
liams was  able  to  exhibit  scars  on  his  knees  that  duplicated  them 
exactly. 

After  the  publication  of  the  lost  dauphin  story,  the  Duchesse 
d'Angoul6me  published  a  statement  that  the  dauphin  had  on  his 
arm  inoculation  marks,  one  of  which  was  in  the  shape  of  a  crescent. 
Williams  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  had  such  a  mark  on  his 
arm. 

One  Dr.  Hanson  was  especially  ardent  in  arguing  that  Williams 
was  the  long-lost  heir  to  the  throne  of  France.  To  present  the  claim 
in  forcible  style,  he  prepared  and  printed  a  summary  of  the  physical 
coincidences  in  parallel: 


Louis  XVII  resembled  the  rest  of 
the  Bourbon  family  in  form  and  feat- 
ure, with  the  exception  of  absence  in 
him  of  an  aquiline  nose.  He  had  hazel 
eyes,  tumors  on  both  wrists,  both  el- 
bows and  both  knees,  a  scar  on  the 
eyebrow  and  inoculation  marks  on  the 
arm,  one  of  which  was  of  a  crescent 
shape. 


The  Rev.  E.  Williams  resembles 
the  Bourbon  family  in  form  and  feature, 
with  the  exception  of  the  absence,  la 
him  of  an  aquiline  nose.  He  has  hazel 
eyes,  the  scars  of  tumors  or  sores  in 
early  life  on  both  wrists,  both  elbows 
and  knees,  a  scar  on  the  eyebrow  and 
inoculation  marks  on  the  arm,  one  of 
which  is  of  a  crescent  shape. 


Following  the  denial  by  the  Prince  de  Joinville  that  he  had 
told  Williams  what  the  latter  claimed,  appeared  a  number  of  affi- 
davits in  New  Orleans,  purporting  to  throw  ligiht  on  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  dauphin  during  the  red  days  of  the  revolution.  The 
gist  of  these  affidavits  was  that  the  dauphin  had  been  carried  to 
America  and  placed  among  the  Indians.  There  were  other  circum- 
stances that  fitted  nicely  into  the  story,  and  made  the  lost  dauphin 
story  an  interesting  episode  in  American  history,  though  as  regards 
its  sequel,  not  an  important  one;  nothing  ever  came  of  the  ambitious 
pretensions  of  the  Indian  missionary.  He  enjoyed  a  brief  term  of 
notoriety  and  then  sank  back  into  obscurity.  Friendless  and  alone, 
he  died  in  1858,  in  a  cottage  which  friends  had  erected  for  him  in 
the  days  when  general  interest  attached  to  his  romantic  story.  "His 
household  presented  an  aspect  of  cheerless  desolation,  without  a 
mitigating  ray  of  comfort  or  a  genial  spark  of  home  light.  His 
neatly  finished  rooms  had  neither  carpets,  curtains  nor  furniture, 
save  a  scanty  supply  of  broken  chairs  and  invalid  tables;  boxes 
filled  with  books,  the  gifts  of  friends,  lay  stored  away  in  comers; 
his  dining  table,  unmoved  from  week  to  week,  and  covered  with  the 
broken  remains  of  former  repasts,  and  his  pantry  and  sleeping 
room  disordered  and  filthy,  left  upon  the  visitor  an  oppressive 
feeling  of  homeless  solitude  that  it  was  impossible  to  efface  from  the 
memory." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MOB    LAW   AS   A    POLITICAL   FACTOR. 

Violence  committed  by  a  mob  in  the  city  of  Milwaukee  turned 
the  current  of  the  state's  politics  in  the  early  '50's,  drove  the  Demo- 
crats from  power  and  seated  a  Whig  as  the  second  chief  executive 
of  the  state.  The  chief  incidents  connected  with  the  proceedings 
led  to  much  local  bitterness  of  feeling.  At  the  session  of  the  leg- 
islature in  1849  State  Senator  J.  B.  Smith  of  Milwaukee  secured  the 
passage  of  a  law  whose  chief  provision  was  that  "the  vendor  of 
intoxicating  drinks  sihall  be  held  primarily  responsible  for  all  dam- 
ages to  the  community  justly  chargeable  to  such  sale  or  traffic." 

In  consequence  of  the  passage  of  this  law,  Its  opponents  adopted 
defiant  resolutions  at  a  mass  meeting,  and  those  who  favored  it 
organized  a  counter  demonstration.  Don  A.  J.  Upham  was  at  this 
time  candidate  for  governor  of  the  .state,  and  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  opposition  to  the  enforcement  of  the  law.  E.  D.  Helton  led 
the  friends  of  tihe  law.  A  collision  ensued  when  both  sides  attempted 
to  meet  at  the  same  time  at  the  same  place.  The  meeting,  or  rather 
meetings,  were  held  at  the  Free  Congregational  church,  the  original 
call  having  been  issued  by  the  temperance  people.  By  coming  early, 
the  anti-temperance  people  packed  the  meeting,  and  elected  Mr. 
Upham  chairman.  When  the  others  came  they  indignantly  claimed 
possession.  They  elected  E.  D.  Holton  to  preside,  and  at  once  con- 
fusion reigned  supreme. 

"There  were  thus,"  says  the  account  of  a  participant,  "two 
chairmen,  two  conventions  running  at  the  same  time,  two  sets  of 
resolutions  and  two  classes  of  resolutions;  the  confusion  of  tongues 
was  complete.  Both  chairmen  stood  on  top  of  the  pulpit,  till  some 
printers,  crowding  in  behind  Upham,  toppled  him  off  onto  the  floor. 
Soon  after  the  toughs  were  forcibly  ejected,  the  resolutions  passed 
in  confusion  were  reaffirmed  and  the  meeting  adjourned  to  meet  at 
the  same  place  the  next  morning.  A  great  crowd  gathered  the  next 
day,  passed  strong  resolutions  against  Messrs.  Up^ham  and  Cross  and 
in  favor  of  law  and  order,  and  the  reform  canvass  began." 

On  the  evening  of  March  4,  1850,  a  mob  attacked  the  residence 
of  the  state  senator  who  had  fat/hered  the  obnoxious  law,  but  as  he 
was  not  at  home  they  contented  themselves  with  the  destruction  of 
property.  Intense  excitement  resulted,  and  a  call  containing  1,200 
signatures  was  issued,  asking  friends  of  law  and  order  to  attend 
an  indignation  meeting.    The  call  was  headed  in  this  wise: 

242 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


243 


THE    CRISIS     HAS     COME— SHALL    THE    LAW     BE     SUSTAINED? 

A  crises  has  arrived.  Our  city  has  been  disgraced  by  a  mob.  The  property 
of  one  of  our  citizens  has  been  destroyed  by  lawless  violence,  the  rioters  go 
unpunished,  and  no  decided  expression  has  yet  been  made  of  the  strong  feeling 
that  exists  in  the  community  against  this  outrage. 

As  before  there  was  a  contest  between  the  contending  factions 
for  the  control  of  the  meeting.  At  midnight  it  broke  up  in  a  row, 
each  side  having  adopted  a  long  string  of  whereases  and  resolutions. 

The  result  of  the  local  bitterness  was  injected  into  the  guberna- 
torial campaign.  Don  A.  J.  Upham  was  defeated  for  governor, 
although  his  party  associates  were  chosen  by  narrow  majorities. 


.^^^- 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    TOCSIX    OF    WAR. 

No  state  responded  more  promptly  to  the  call  of  duty  than 
Wisconsin,  in  1861.  The  ink  with  which  the  governor  signed  the 
proclamation  calling  for  volunteers  had  not  time  to  dry  before 
messages  came  by  wire  from  many  parts  of  the  state  tendering 
service  in  defense  of  the  Union.  The  government  had  called  for 
but  one  regiment — ^within  a  week  thirty-six  companies  had  tendered 
service.  So  immediate  was  the  response  that  the  controversy  of 
later  years  at  to  priority  of  tender  became  a  question,  not  of  days, 
or  hours,  but  of  minutes.  Alexander  W.  Randall  was  Wisconsin's 
first  war  governor,  and  he  manifested  an  energy  and  sagacity  that 
proved  him  the  man  for  the  occasion.  He  held  in  constant  reserve 
regiments  of  volunteers,  and  by  thus  anticipating  the  calls  of  the 
Department  of  War,  was  enabled  to  promptly  and  at  all  times 
respond. 

Months  before  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  Gov.  Randall  prepared 
for  the  inevitable  conflict.  In  January,  1861,  he  sent  a  message  to 
the  legislature  calling  attention  to  the  dangers  that  threatened. 

"The  signs  of  the  times  indicate,"  said  he,  "that  there  may 
arise  a  contingency  in  the  condition  of  the  government  when  it 
will  become  necessary  to  respond  to  a  call  of  the  national  govern- 
ment for  men  and  means  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
and  to  thwart  the  designs  of  men  engaged  in  an  organized  treason. 
While  no  unnecessary  expense  should  be  incurred,  yet  it  is  the  part 
of  wisdom  both  for  individuals  and  states  in  revolutionary  times  to 
be  prepared  to  defend  our  institutions  to  the  last  extremity." 

Jan.  9,  1861,  the  Mad;ison  guard  voted  to  tender  its  services  to 
Gov.  Randall,  "in  case  they  may  be  required  for  the  preservation  of 
the  American  Union." 

Before  the  war  was  over,  Wisconsin  had  borne  more  than  its 
share  of  the  burdens.  More  than  90,000  men  went  to  the  front,  or 
aibout  one  for  every  nine  of  the  total  population,  and  an  average  of 
one  in  every  eight  who  left  never  returned.  The  state  furnished 
1,263  men  in  excess  over  all  calls,  or  a  total  of  91,379.  This  rep- 
resented more  than  one  from  every  two  voters  of  the  state,  and  one 
in  every  five  of  the  entire  male  population  of  the  state.  The  people 
of  Wisconsin  raised  nearly  $12,000,000  for  war  purposes. 

"The  state  has  furnisher  under  all  calls  from  the  general  govern- 
ment," Gov.  Lucius  Fairchild  reported  to  the  legislature  in  1866, 
"fifty-two  regiments  of  infantry,  four  regiments  and  one  company 
of  calvary,  one  regiment  (of  twelve  batteries)  of  heavy  artillery, 
thirteen  batteries  of  light  artillery,  one  company  of  sharpshooters 

244 


The  Story  of  the  State.  245 

and  three  brigade  bands,  besides  recruits  for  the  navy  and  United 
States  organizations,  numbering  in  all  91,379,  of  which  number 
79,934  were  volunteers,  ^nd  11,445  drafted  men  and  substitutes." 

When  the  civil  war  began,  Wisconsin  was  the  youngest  of  the 
United  States,  with  but  four  exceptions.  Its  population  comprised 
mainly  people  of  New  England  and  New  York,  with  strong  groups 
of  European  colonists.  Among  these  latter  the  martial  spirit  was 
an  inheritance.  Among  the  former  were  many  veterans  of  the 
Mexican  war,  for  Wisconsin  had  contributed  liberally  to  the  regi- 
ments that  a  dozen  years  before  had  marched  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the 
City  of  Mexico.  The  military  spirit  had  found  expression  in  the 
organization    of    numerous    uniformed    companies.      In    Milwaukee 


Edward  Salomon. 

alone  fourteen  military  companies  had  been  organized  since  the 
early  days  of  citj'hood.  One  of  them,  the  Light  guard,  had  a  national 
reputation,  and  its  membership  comprised  some  of  the  leading 
professional  and  business  men  of  Milwaukee.  Poreign-born  and  men 
of  native  birth  were  equally  loyal  when  the  emergency  came;  thus 
Wisconsin  was  as  well  equipped  to  aid  in  the  suppression  of  South- 
ern treason  as  many  an  older  state. 

The  ninety  thousand  men  who  marched  to  the  front  from 
Wisconsin  were  as  gallant  soldiers  as  ever  went  to  war.  "The  blood 
of  these  brave  men  drenched  almost  every  battlefield  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  the  Rio  Grande,  from  Missouri  to  Georgia."  Among  the 
infantry  regiments  composed  in  whole,  or  mainly,  from  men  of 
foreign  birth  were  these: 


246  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

Ninth,  Twenty-sixth  and  Forty-fifth  regiments — Germans. 

Fifteenth  regiment— Scandinavians,  with  gallant  Col.  Hans  C.  Heg  at  the 
head. 

Seventeenth  regiment— Irishmen,  Col.  John  L.   Doran  in  command. 

Frenchmen  were  numerously  represented  in  the  Twelfth  regiment,  and  the 
Third,  Seventh  and  Thirty-seventh  numbered  a  sprinkling  of  Wisconsin  Indians. 

Wisconsin  also  contributed  nearly  a  thousand  men  to  the  navy. 
There  being  no  seaport  city  in  the  state,  those  who  sought  service 
in  the  navy  were  compelled  to  leave  home  to  enlist.  Thus  the 
Badger  state  failed  to  receive  due  credit.  It  is  known,  however, 
that  Wisconsin  men  served  on  four  hundred  and  eighty-seven  dif- 
ferent vessels  that  fought  on  the  Union  side. 

Loyalty  found  expression  in  prompt  action  in  every  city  and 
hamlet  of  Wisconsin.  The  hearts  of  the  people  were  stirred  by  the 
common  impulse  of  patriotism.  The  national  colors  met  the  eye 
on  every  side;  the  stars  and  stinpes  adorned  the  pulpit,  as  well  as 
the  schoolhouse  and  the  mart;  the  emblem  waved  from  housetop, 
from  window  and  doorway.  The  "Star-Spangled  Banner"  was  sung 
with  a  fervor  hitherto  unknown. 

On  the  15th  day  of  April  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Sumter  first 
became  known.  That  same  evening  patriots  gathered  in  enthusiastic 
meetings  in  the  cities  of  Milwaukee  and  Janesville,  and  soon  after 
in  Madison,  Kenosha,  Beloit,  Fond  du  Lac,  Beaver  Dam  and  other 
cities,  at  which  money  was  pledged  to  aid  the  government  in 
extirpating  treason.  Then  came  the  news  of  the  attack  by  a 
Baltimore  mob  on  the  troops  passing  through  the  streets  of  the 
city,  and  excitement  grew.  On  Saturday,  April  19,  the  sum  of 
$11,175  was  subscribed  by  Milwaukee  Chamber  of  Commerce  men, 
in  less  than  fifteen  minutes.  Business  men  hastened  to  sign  the 
subscription  lists,  and  within  a  few  days  Milwaukee  subscriptions 
amounted  to  $30,000.  At  Madison  ringing  speeches  and  resolutions 
were  supplemented  with  $7,500  in  cash.  Waupun  raised  $3,000  to 
distribute  among  the  families  of  volunteers;  Kenosha,  $3,500  in  an 
hour's  time;  Fond  du  Lac,  $4,000,  and  other  cities  joined  the  proces- 
sion with  proportionate  amounts. 

From  the  pulpits  came  burning  words  of  patriotism.  In  the 
columns  of  the  newspapers  was  reflected  the  spirit  of  the  people. 

"The  hopes  and  prayers  of  the  men  of  peace,  and  the  peaceable 
spirit  of  the  government  have  availed  nothing,"  said  The  Milwaukee 
Sentinel  of  April  17.  "Animated  by  the  infernal  spirit  which, 
prompted  this  rebellion,  the  South  has  needlessly  opened  this  war. 
Let  the  government  now  draw  the  sword  and  throw  away  the 
scabbard.  Let  us  hear  no  more  of  peace  till  it  comes  in  appeal 
from  the  lips  of  conquered  traitors." 

"We  hang  out  our  banner,"  said  Matthew  Hale  Carpenter  in  a 
fervid  speech  that  stirred  several  thousand  hearers  to  enthusiasm. 
"We  hang  out  our  banner;  no  dusty  rag  representing  the  twilight 


The  ^7o/•.v  of  the  Stale. 


247 


of  seven  stars,  but  the  old  banner  that  has  floated  triumphantly  in 
every  breeze;  the  banner  Decatur  unfurled  to  the  Barbary  states; 
that  Jackson  held  over  New  Orleans;  that  Scott  carried  to  the  halls 
of  the  Montezumas;  and  thereby  we  mean  to  say,  ia  no  spirit  of 
defiance,  but  with  the  firmness  of  manly  resolution,  this  flag  shall 
"wave  while  an  American  lives  to  protect  it.  And  God  grant  it 
may  float  over  a  peaceful  land,  long  alter  the  followers  of  the  seven 
fallen  stars  have  hung  on  gibbets  or  rotted  in  dungeons." 

While  these  sentiments  undoubtedly  reflected  the  sentiments  of 
the  great  bulk  of  the  people,  .here  were  in  Wisconsin,  as  in  other 
Northern  states,  disloj'al  men  who  sought  to  paralyze  the  arm  of 


Gov.  L.  p.  Harvey. 
Drowned  at  Pittsburg  Landing. 


authority.  One  or  two  "copperhead"  newspapers  referred  to  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  as  a  murderer,  a  German  daily  in  Milwaukee  and  an 
English  daily  in  La  Cix>sse  being  especially  conspicuous  in  their 
onslaughts  on  the  government  and  denunciation  of  the  wai'.  On  the 
third  day  of  September,  in  the  year  1862,  a  state  Democratic  con- 
vention at  Milwaukee  adopted  an  address  that  became  famous  as  the 
"Ryan  addi-ess."  Professing  to  condemn  the  rebellion,  its  specious 
plea  for  loyalty  to  the  constitution  was  artfully  worded  so  as  to 
attack  the  government  and  discourage  its  defenders.  The  address 
-was  written  by  Edward  G.  Ryan,  and  had  all  the  force  and  vigor 
that  distinguished  the  utterances  of  that  able  jurist. 


248  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

"Blind  submission  to  the  administration  of  the  government  is 
not  the  government,"  this  document  declared.  "The  administration 
is  not  the  government.  The  government  is  established  by  the 
constitution  and  rests  in  its  provisions.  The  administration  is  as 
subject  to  the  constitution  and  as  responsible  for  its  observance,  as 
the  people.  The  administration  may  err,  but  the  constitution  does 
not  change.  And  when  the  administration  violates  the  constitution, 
loyalty  to  the  administration  may  become  disloyalty  to  the  union." 

In  June,  1863,  another  state  convention  of  Democrats  was  held 
in  Milwaukee,  at  which  resolutions  growing  out  of  the  Ryan  address 
were  adopted.  In  August  the  Republicans  met  in  state  convention 
at  Madison,  and  among  the  resolutions  adopted  was  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  we  deplore  the  partisan  hostility  which  has  been  awakened 
against  the  government  by  interested  politicians  and  designing  demagogues  of 
the  North,  believing  that  it  can  only  tend,  by  encouraging  rebels,  to  protract 
the  war;  and,  Instead  of  kindling  the  patriotism,  to  arouse  the  animosities  of  our 
people  and  to  occasion  elsewhere  the  same  riotous,  diabolical  and  anarchical 
scenes  which  have  already  disgraced  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  nation. 

In  September  a  state  convention  of  loyal  Democrats  was  held 
at  Janesville,  many  of  the  leading  members  of  the  party  partici- 
pating. One  of  the  planks  of  the  platfomi  adopted  by  them  read 
thus: 

Resolved,  That  the  present  rebellion  was  commenced  and  Is  prosecuted  for 
the  dismemberment  of  the  national  union,  and  the  destruction  of  the  constitution 
and  government  of  the  United  States;  that  in  view  of  the  vast  armies  now 
arrayed  by  the  rebels  for  the  commission  of  this  national  murder,  no  individual 
and  no  party  can  stand  indifferently  by  and  witness  the  perpetration  of  the 
crime  without  becoming  a  participator  in  the  bloody  treason. 

In  the  dark  days  of  defeat  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  covert 
sedition  at  'home,  there  was  no  abatement  of  loyalty  among  the 
great  mass  of  Wisconsin  people.  Eager  volunteers  kept  the  quota 
apportioned  to  this  state  at  the  top  notch;  women  aided  by  organ- 
izing circles  for  knitting  socks  and  sewing  clothes  for  the  soldiers 
in  the  field.  Camps  were  established  in  various  parts  of  the  state, 
where  the  recruits  were  massed  preliminary  to  the  receipt  of  march- 
ing orders.  Camp  Scott  was  located  in  Milwaukee,  on  the  north 
side  of  Spring  street  (now  Grand  avenue),  between  Twelfth  and 
Fourteenth  streets,  and  here  the  first  regiment  was  mustered  into 
the  United  States  service.  The  principal  camps  during  the  war 
were: 

Milwaukee— Camp  Scott,  named  for  Gen.  Scott;  Camp  Sigel,  named  for  Gen. 
Franz  Sigel;  Camp  Holton,  named  for  James  Holton;  Camp  Trowbridge;  Camp 
Washburn,  named  for  Gen.  Cadwallader  C.  Washburn,  afterwards  governor  of 
the  state. 

Madison— Camp  Randall,  named  for  A.  W.  Randall,  Wisconsin's  first  war 
governor,  afterwards  postmaster-general  of  the  United  States. 

Racine — Camp  Utley,  named  for  Col.  W.  L.  Utley,  commander  of  the 
Twenty-second  regiment. 

Fond  du  Lac — Camp  Hamilton,  named  for  Maj.-Gen.  C.  S.  Hamilton;  Camp 
Wood,  named  for  Col.  D.  E.  Wood,  commander  of  the  Fourteenth  regiment. 


TJie  Stori/  of  the  State.  249 

Janesville— Camp  Tredway,  named  for  Brlg.-Gen.  W.  W.  Tredway,  quarter- 
master-general of  the  state;  Camp  Barstow,  named  for  William  A.  Barstow,  ex- 
^overnor,  colonel  of  the  Third  Wisconsin  cavalry. 

La  Crosse — Camp  Salomon,  named  for  Edward  Salomon,  elected  lieutenant- 
governor,  who  became  governor  upon  the  death  of  Gov.  Harvey. 

Kenosha — Camp  Harvey,  named  for  Gov.  L.  P.  Harvey,  Wisconsin's  second 
war   governor. 

Oshkosh — Camp  Bragg,  named  for  Gen.  Edward  S.  Bragg,  the  brave  com- 
mander of  the  Iron  Brigade. 

Wisconsin  soldiers  fought  in  every  important  engagement  dur- 
ing the  war.  The  regiments  were  assigned  to  duty  among  the  sev- 
eral divisions  as  follows: 

Eastern  Division,  comprising  the  territory  on  both  sides  of  the  Potomac  and 
upon  the  seaboard  from  Baltimore  to  Savannah — First  (three  months).  Second, 
Third,  Fourth,  Fifth,  Sixth,  Seventh,  Nineteenth,  Twenty-sixth,  Thirty-sixth, 
Tliirty-seventh   and   Thirty-eighth. 

Central  Division,  including  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Northern  Alabama  and 
Georgia — Tenth,  Twenty-first,  Twenty-second,  Twenty-fourth,  Thirtieth,  Forty- 
third,  Forty-fourth,  Forty-fifth,  Forty-sixth  and  Forty-seventh;  also  the  reor- 
ganized First  regiment. 

Western  Division,  embracing  the  country  west  and  northwest  of  the  Central 
division— Eighth,  Ninth,  Eleventh,  Twelfth,  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  Fifteenth, 
Sixteenth,  Seventeenth,  Eighteenth,  Twentieth,  Twenty-third,  Twenty-fifth, 
Twenty-seventh,  Tweny-eighth,  Twenty-ninth,  Thirty-first,  Thirty-second,  Thirty- 
third,  Thirty-fourth,  Thirty-fifth,  Thirty-ninth,  Fortieth,  Forty-first,  Forty-sec- 
ond, Forty-eighth,  Forty-ninth,  Fiftieth,  Fifty-first,  Fifty-second  and  Fifty- 
third. 

During  the  progress  of  the  war  a  number  of  these  regiments 
were  transferred  from  one  division  to  another.  The  first  assign- 
ment of  other  Wisconsin  organizations  was  as  follows: 

Eastern  Division — Second,  Fourth  and  Eleventh  batteries  of  light  artillery; 
Company  F,  First  regiment  Berdau's  sharpshooters;  Batteries  A,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I, 
K,   L  and  M  of  heavy  artillery. 

Central  Division — First  and  Third  batteries  of  light  artillery;  Batteries  B 
and  C  of  heavy  artillery. 

Western  Division — First,  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  regiments  of  cavalry; 
Fifth,  Sixth,  Seventh,  Eighth,  Ninth,  Tenth,  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  batteries  of 
light  artillery;  Eatery  D  of  heavy  artillery. 

Draft  riots  occurred  in  Wisconsin  as  they  did  in  other  states,  but 
were  not  serious  as  to  results,  chiefly  owing  to  the  firm  measures 
instituted  by  Gov.  Salomon,  in  whose  administration  the  first  one 
occurred.  This  was  in  August,  1862,  and  was  the  only  draft  directed 
by  the  state  authorities,  subsequent  ones  being  managed  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  federal  government.  The  War  dpartment  notified 
the  governor  that  300,000  men  were  to  be  drafted,  and  that  Wiscon- 
sin's quota  had  been  placed  at  11,904.  Volunteers  came  forward  so 
briskly  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  draft  (but  4,537  men  in  Wis- 
consin. The  chief  draft  riots  occurred  at  Port  Washington  and  West 
Bend,  where  mobs  seized  the  muster  rolls,  looted  residences  and 
were  prevented  from  hanging  the  draft  commissioner  only  be- 
cause of  the  expeditious  retreat  of  that  ofiicer  to  a  less  turbulent 
place.  The  prompt  arrest  of  the  ringleaders  caused  the  subsidence 
of  the  trouble.     The  principal  resistance  to  the  draft  at  Port  Wash- 


250  Leading  Eoents  of  Wisconsin  History. 

ington  came  from  Luxembourgers  who  owned  farms  in  Washington 
county.  They  marched  into  town  armed  with  all  sorts  of  weapons. 
The  government  officials  fled  and  the  angry  fanners  attacked  the 
best  residences  in  the  town.  Word  was  sent  to  Madison  for  troops, 
and  the  rioters  prepared  to  give  them  a  warm  reception.  The  old 
cannon  which  'had  long  been  in  the  town  was  loaded  with  scrap 
iron  and  mounted  on  the  pier,  as  it  was  supposed  that  the  troops 
would  arrive  by  steamer.  But  the  steamer  went  by  Port  Washing- 
ton with  her  lights  out  and  landed  the  soldiers  unobserved  at  Port 
Uloa,  five  miles  distant.  The  soldiers  divided  and  approached  the 
town  by  different  routes,  thus  surprising  the  rioters.  It  was  the 
Twenty-sixth  Wisconsin  which  performed  this  duty.  For  weeks  the 
farm  houses  were  searched  for  the  offenders,  who  were  taken  to 
Madison  and  put  in  the  bull  pen  there.  The  same  old  cannon  which 
figured  in  Port  Washington's  history  was  again  hauled  out  and 
loaded  with  scrap  iron  at  the  time  of  the  famous  Indian  scare  which 
extended  all  over  Wisconsin. 

In  Milwaukee  an  outbreak  was  prevented  by  the  firm  attitude 
of  the  military  commanders.  There  were  angry  mutterings,  but  the 
patroling  of  streets  by  the  regiments  then  stationed  here  awed  those 
who  threatened  disorder  into  sullen  submission. 

The  following  year  there  was  another  conscription.  There  were 
drafted  at  this  time  nearly  15,000  men,  but  only  628  of  them  were 
mustered  in.  The  others  either  paid  commutation,  furnished  sub- 
stitutes or  fled  to  Canada.  Substitute  brokers  drove  a  thriving 
trade,  and  market  prices  were  quoted  daily. 

"Prices  constantly  advanced  from  the  time  of  the  call  to  the 
time  of  the  draft,"  says  ^  an  account  of  the  draft.  "The  opening 
prices  July  18  were:  One-year  men,  $100;  two-year  men,  $200;  three- 
year  men,  $300.  At  these  opening  prices  the  supply  was  not  equal 
to  the  demand,  and  all  were  taken  as  fast  as  offered;  as  the  time  of 
draft  drew  near  and  anxiety  increased,  prices  advanced.  The  price 
on  the  last  day  of  examinations,  August  20,  were:  For  one-year 
men,  $200;  two-year  men,  $400  to  $450;  and  three-year  men,  $600  to 
$650.  Subsequently  as  high  as  $800  was  paid  for  a  single  substi- 
tute for  three  years.  One  business  man  paid  $700  for  his  man,  and 
subsequently  ascertained,  much  to  his  disgust,  that  he  was  physi- 
cally disqualified  for  the  service." 

More  serious  than  the  draft  riots  was  the  gathering  of  a  mob 
in  the  streets  of  Milwaukee  and  an  attack  on  the  banks  of  the  city 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war.  An  enormous  decline  in 'the  value  of 
Southern  bonds  followed  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  and  as 
the  Wisconsin  bank  circulation  rested  largely  on  these  securities, 
violent  fiuctuations  of  the  currency  created  a  panic.  Refusal  to 
redeem  bills  of  certain  banks  added  to  the  uncertainty.  A  state 
convention  of  bankers  was  held  to  devise  means  for  restoring  con- 


The  Story  of  the  State.  251 

fidence,  and  the  legislature  sought  to  bolster  the  situation  by  pass- 
ing an  amended  banking  act.  The  climax  came  when  the  city  bank- 
ers voted  to  throw  out  ten  banks  of  a  list  which  had  been  listed  as 
sound  before  that  time.  It  was  on  a  Saturday  that  this  news  was 
published.  Laborers  who  had  received  bills  of  the  discredited  banks 
became  furious.  On  Sunday  they  gathered  in  groups  and  angrily 
discussed  the  situation.  On  Monday  the  groups  amalgamated  and 
the  mob,  led  by  a  common  impulse,  marched  toward  the  district 
where  the  banks  were  located.  This  was  Monday,  June  21,  1861. 
The  German  poet,  Anton  Thormaehlen,  was  on  his  way  to  his  place 
of  business,  and  attracted  by  the  unusual  demonstration,  stopped  to 
look  at  the  mob. 


Mrs.   Cordelia  Harvey. 
A  Leader  In  the   Hospital  Service. 

"There's  Alexander  Mitchell,"  some  one  shouted,  as  he  observed 
that  the  poet  wore  a  shiny  stovepipe  hat. 

The  unlucky  poet  was  seized,  hurled  to  the  ground,  beaten  and 
trampled  upon  and  left  for  dead.  He  subsequently  recovered  and 
lived  to  a  ripe  old  age.  The  mob  pursued  its  way  to  the  Wisconsin 
Marine  and  Fire  Insurance  company's  bank.  The  clerks  barricaded 
the  doors,  locked  the  funds  and  books  of  the  concern  in  the  vault 
and  made  their  escape.  The  mob  tore  down  the  iron  railings  around 
the  basement  and  used  them  in  attacking  the  State  bank  opposite, 
but  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  men  in  the  hallway  deterred 
them  from  carrying  out  their  original  intention  of  sacking  the 
Mitchell  bank.    They  wrecked  the  State  bank,  and  -with  the  demol- 


252 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


ished  furniture  and  such  cash  books  and  paper  as  were  conveniently 
obtainable,  built  a  roaring  bonfire  on  the  sidewalk. 

Alarmed  by  the  growing  disorder,  the  authorities  telegraphed 
the  governor,  who  urgfd  prompt  suppression  of  the  mob,  and 
ordered  Hibbard's  Zouaves  to  the  scene  of  the  disturbance.  In  the 
meantime  an  alarm  of  fire  had  caused  the  fire  department  to  come 
to  the  scene,  and  they  effectively  turned  a  stream  on  the  mob. 
Checked  in  their  plunder  of  the  banks,  the  rioters  became  incensed 
and  closed  around  the  firemen  in  threatening  manner.  At  this 
juncture  the  clatter  of  steel  and  the  shout  of  the  Zouaves,  who  were 
coming  at  double-quick,  checked  the  zeal  of  the  mob.  They  broke 
and  fled,  and  the  cold  water  from  the  firemen's  nozzle  pursued  them 
till  they  were  out  of  range.  Fifty-two  rioters  were  arrested.  The 
damage  to  property  exceeded  $5,000. 

There  was  no  further  difficulty.  Business  men  called  a  meeting 
and  guaranteed  the  redemption  of  the  bills  of  the  discredited  banks 
held  by  the  laborers,  and  the  excitement  was  thus  allayed. 


E.   G.   Ryan. 
Author  of  the  Famous  Ryan  Address. 


When  the  war  ended  and  the  soldier  boys  came  home  again, 
there  were  many  widows  and  many  orphans  who  looked  in  vain  for 
familiar  faces.  Eleven  thousand  brave  men  who  went  forth  from 
their  homes  in  Wisconsin  to  battle  for  the  preservation  of  the 
"Union  never  returned. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ON    THE    FIELD     OF    BATTLE. 

"We  estimated  a  Wisconsin  regiment  equal  to  an  ordinary  bri- 
gade," Gen.  William  T.  Sherman  wrote  in  his  Memoirs. 

Bravery  on  the  field  of  battle  was  but  a  corollary  of  patriotism 
at  home.  Where  duty  called,  there  Wisconsin  soldiers  responded. 
In  nearly  every  notable  engagement  of  the  war  they  had  an  honor- 
able part.  Six  regiments  and  one  company  from  Wisconsin  took 
part  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg;  in  the  Atlanta  campaign  Wisconsin 
had  fifteen  regiments  and  two  batteries,  and  in  the  Vicksburg  cam- 
paign thirteen  regiments  and  three  batteries.  Five  regiments  and 
three  batteries  from  Wisconsin  fought  in  the  battle  of  Stone  River. 

On  Shiloh's  bloody  battlefield,  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,^ 
at  Chickamauga,  in  the  gallant  charge  at  Missionary  Ridge,  Wis- 
consin troops  were  in  the  heat  of  the  battle.  Out  of  every  hundred 
men,  twenty-two  died  or  were  wounded.  The  Second  Wisconsin 
heads  the  list  of  regimental  losses  during  the  war,  in  the  number 
killed  and  died  of  wounds — more  than  19  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
enrollment.  "The  total  loss  sustained  by  this  regiment  throughout 
the  war  represented  the  extreme  limit  of  danger  to  which  human  life 
was  exposed  during  the  protracted  struggle." 

A  youth  of  19  years  was  the  first  Wisconsin  soldier  whom  the 
bullets  of  the  rebels  laid  low.  When  the  First  Wisconsin  was 
encamped  in  the  barracks  on  Spring  street,  Milwaukee,  George  C. 
Drake  said  to  a  friend  that  he  never  expected  to  return  home  with 
his  comrades.  In  the  skirmish  of  Falling  Waters  his  premonition 
came  true. 

"I  expect  to  be  the  first  to  fall,"  were  his  words  as  they  were 
wading  through  the  Potomac  and  about  to  engage  the  enemy. 

The  First  Wisconsin  was  in  the  lead  of  the  column  that 
crossed  the  Potomac  into  Virginia  at  3  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
July  2,  1861.  There  was  picket  firing,  but  the  rebels  retreated  slowly, 
keeping  just  in  advance  of  the  skirmishers.  Suddenly  a  volley  of 
musketry  greeted  the  advancing  soldiers.  The  fire  was  immedi- 
ately returned.  As  young  Drake  was  reloading  for  the  second  vol- 
ley, a  bullet  pierced  him  near  the  heart.  "My  mother!"  were  the 
words  that  came  to  his  lips  as  he  fell  to  the  ground  and  expired. 
His  remains  were  taken  to  Williamsport,  Md.,  and  there  buried  with 
the  honors  of  war. 

At  the  battle  of  Falling  Waters,  Warren  Graham,  another  young 
Wisconsin  soldier,  was  fatally  wounded,  four  brfUets  having  lodged 
in  his  body.  His  remains  were  brought  to  Milwaukee  and  interred 
at  Forest  home.     Graham   was  a  Milwaukee  newspaper  man.     At 


254  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

Hagerstown  the  rebel  press  was  captured  by  the  Unionists  and 
"Warren  Graham,  with  the  assistance  of  several  printers  of  the  regi- 
ment, converted  the  instrument  of  treason  into  a  patriotic  factor  by 
issuing  a  spirited  little  sheet  which  he  called  The  Camp  Record. 

The  Iron  Brigade  well  eameu  Its  title.  It  was  the  only  brigade 
composed  mainly  of  Wisconsin  men,  three  of  the  five  regiments 
comprising  it  being  from  this  state — the  Second,  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Wisconsin.  No  Wisconsin  regiments  suffered  such  a  terrible  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded  as  those  of  the  Iron  Brigade.  The  loss  at  the 
battle  of  Gainesville  considerably  exceeded  one-third  of  the  entire 
command.  The  ranks  of  the  Second  Wisconsin  were  thinned  as  a 
field  of  grain  might  be  by  the  scythe  of  the  mower.  A  characteristic 
anecdote  Is  told  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fairchild  in  connection  with 
this  battle.  After  the  battle.  Col.  Fairchild  could  not  realize  that 
the  loss  had  been  so  terrible. 

"Where  is  the  regiment — have  they  scattered?"  he  asked. 

"Colonel,"  replied  the  major,  "this  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  Sec- 
ond— the  rest  lie  on  the  field." 

"Thank  God  they  have  not  deceived  their  friends;  they  are 
worthy  of  their  name,"  said  Fairchild. 

The  conduct  of  the  Second  had  been  indeed  gallant.  "For  nearly 
twenty  minutes,"  wrote  Lieut.  William  Noble,  "this  regiment  alone 
checked  and  sustained  the  onset  of  the  whole  of  Stonewall  Jack- 
son's division  of  rebel  infantry,  under  one  of  the  most  intensely 
concentrated  fires  of  musketry  probably  ever  experienced  in  this  or 
any  other  war." 

This  is  how  the  Iron  Brigade  received  its  name.  Gen.  George  B. 
McClellan,  after  the  war,  narrated  the  incident  to  Gen.  John  B. 
Callis,  commander  of  the  Seventh  Wisconsin.  It  was  at  the  battle 
of  South  Mountain.  Gen.  McClellan's  headquarters  were  so  located 
that  he  could  see  along  the  pike  to  the  gorge  in  the  mountain.  Gen. 
Hooker  came  dashing  down  the  pike  road  to  headquarters,  and  Gen. 
McClellan  asked  him: 

"What  troops  are  those  advancing  on  each  side  of  the  pike,  near 
the  gorge,  under  that  murderous  fire?" 

"That,"  said  Gen.  Hooker,  "is  Gibbon's  brigade  of  Wisconsin 
men,  from  Wisconsin  and  Indiana." 

"They  must  be  made  of  iron,"  said  McClellan. 

"By  the  eternal,"  responded  Hooker,  "they  are  iron,  and  if  you 
had  seen  them  at  second  Bull  Run,  as  I  did,  you  would  know  them 
to  be  iron." 

From  that  time  they  bore  the  name  that  so  well  described  them. 

"Antietam  was  our  bloodiest  day,"  Gen.  E.  S.  Bragg  says  in 
his  reminiscences  of  the  Iron  Brigade's  experiences.  "Antietam 
closed  a  period  of  forty-five  days  during  which  we  had  fought  or 
been  under  fire  eleven  days  ,and  had  been  engaged  in  four  pitched 


Jaii^ 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


255 


battles.  At  Antietam  the  brigade  lost  about  400  men,  at  South 
Mountain  317,  and  in  the  battles  of  Gainesville  and  second  Bull  Run 
873,  but  the  percentage  of  loss  to  the  number  engaged  was  much 
higher  at  Antietam  than  in  any  other  engagement  of  the  series.  The 
brigade  was  almost  obliterated,  but  it  was  built  up  again,  and  kept 
up  its  reputation  in  succeeding  campaigns." 


Old  Abe,  Wisconsin's  War  Eagle. 
On  the  Flambeau  River,   a  branch  of  the  Chippewa    an  Indian  captured  the 
eagle  that  accompanied  the  Eighth  Wisconsin   R<^^>™ent^»"j^VreeLm  was   given 

attraciZ  It  the  Soldier's  Home  Fair  held  in  Milwaukee. 

Gen  Bragg  narrates  an  incident  that  occurred  during  this  bloody 
battl^"the  bloodiest  day  that  America  ever  knew,"  as  Horace 
Greeley  described  it. 

"We  came  the  nearest  to  losing  the  guns  at  Antietam,  when  the 
enemy  came  so  close  that  they  killed  the  gunners  at  their  posts  in 
a  hand-to-hand  fight.  The  battery  was  posted  in  the  cornfield 
which  was  so  stubbornly  contested  by  the  contending  forces.  Just 
at  the  moment  I  was  about  to  fall  from  the  effect   of  a  shot.   I 


256  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

detected  a  movement  of  the  rebels  directed  at  the  battery,  which  was 
doing  heroic  services.  Gen.  Gibbon  saw  me  reel  and  rushed  up, 
asking:   'Old  man,  are  you  hit?' 

"  'Never  mind  me  now,'  I  answered,  'they  are  flanking  the  bri- 
gade and  charging  the  battery.' 

"Gibbon  took  in  the  situation  in  an  Instant,  and  with  his  accus- 
tomed prompt  action,  he  disposed  his  force  to  resist  the  charge. 
The  guns  were  set  in  sections  some  distance  apart,  so  that  when 
they  opened  on  the  charging  force,  which  came  on  in  column,  they 
struck  its  head  with  a  converging  fire,  the  effect  of  which  was  to 
literally  raise  the  head  of  the  column  right  up  into  the  air.  But 
they  did  not  stop;  on  they  came,  while  the  guns  of  the  battery 
belched  fire  into  their  ranks.  Gibbon  shouted  for  double  cannister, 
which  showed  that  the  enemy  was  within  a  very  short  distance. 
And  on  they  came,  right  up  to  and  in  among  the  guns,  where  the 
most  terrific  fighting  ensued.  There  Capt.  Jim  Campbell  waa 
stricken  down  by  a  shot  in  the  shoulder  and  taken  off  the  field, 
fully  believing  that  his  pet  guns  had  been  taken  from  him.  He 
came  back  to  our  improvised  field  hospital,  crying  like  a  child, 
and  I  could  not  understand  it. 

"  'Why,  Jim,'  said  I,  as  he  came  in,  'are  you  making  that  fuss 
over  a  little  hurt  like  that?' 

"  'It's  not  the  hurt.  Colonel,'  said  the  brave  fellow,  'I  have  lost 
my  guns,  and  I  did  not  even  have  time  to  spike  them.' 

"And  he  reached  into  his  vest  pocket  with  his  available  hand  and 
drew  out  a  package  of  files,  moaning  all  the  time  over  the  loss  of 
his  guns.  He  would  have  laid  down  his  life  most  cheerfully  to  save 
them.  I  assured  him  that  he  would  find  the  guns  all  right,  and  such 
proved  to  be  the  fact.    But  it  was  a  narrow  escape  they  had." 

An  incident  associated  with  the  Seventh  Wisconsin  regiment's 
part  at  Gettysburg — and  more  particularly  Co.  F  of  that  regiment — 
has  been  immortalized  in  verse  by  Bret  Harte.  During  the  fierce 
fighting  there,  a  quaint-looking  old  chap  approached  the  boys  of 
Co.  F  and  asked  the  loan  of  a  gun,  as  ihe  wanted  to  take  a  hand 
in  the  fight.  He  looked  like  a  character  derived  from  the  days  of 
the  Revolutionary  war,  and  a  broad  smile  greeted  his  request — he 
seemed  so  out  of  place.  But  one  of  the  officers  humored  the  old  man 
and  gave  him  gun  and  ammunition.  All  day  long  the  old  man  loaded 
and  fired,  and  his  unerring  aim  turned  ridicule  into  respect.  Three 
times  wounded,  he  continued  to  send  his  leaden  messengers  of  death 
among  the  rebels,  and  refused  to  leave  the  Wisconsin  men  whom 
he  had  so  strangely  chosen  as  his  comrades. 

Have  you  heard  the  story  that  gossips  tell 
Of  Burns  of  Gettysburg?— No?  Ah,   well; 
Brief  is  the  glory  that  hero  earns. 
Briefer  the  story  of  poor  John  Burns: 
He  was  the  fellow  who  won  renown, — 
The  only  man  who  didn't  back  down 


The  Story  of  the  State.  257 


When  the  rebels  rode  through  his  native  town; 
But  held  his  own  in  the  fight  next  day. 
When  all  his  townsfolk  ran  away. 

The  old  man  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812  and  had 
fought  in  Mexico.  When  the  rebels  drove  away  his  cows  and  looted 
his  barnyard,  the  old  spirit  animated  John  Burns.  To  paraphrase 
the  poet's  lines  a  bit, 

a  practical  man  was  Bums, 

Who  minded  only  his  own  concerns. 

Troubled  no  more  by  fancies  fine 

Than  one  of  his  calm-eyed,  long-tailed  kine. 
He  was  a  picturesque  sight,  and  an  inspiration  as  in  the  thick 
of  the  fight  he  calmly  loaded  his  gun  again  and  again— as  cool  and 
unconcerned  as  if  bullets  were  n6t  whistling  by  on  every  side. 

Just  where  the  tide  of  battle  turns. 

Erect  and  lonely  stood  old  John  Burns. 

How  do  you  think  the  man  was  dressed? 

He  wore  an  ancient  long  buff  vest. 

Yellow  as  saffron— but  his  best; 

And,  buttoned  over  his  manly  breast 

Was  a  bright  blue  coat,  with  a  rolling  collar, 

And  large  gilt  buttons— size  of  a  dollar— 

With  tails  that  the  country  folk  call  "swaller." 

He  wore  a  broad-brimmed,  bell-crowned  hat. 

White  as  the  locks  on  which  it  sat. 

Never   had  such   a   sight   been   seen 

For  forty  years  on  the  village  green. 

•  ••••* 

And  It  was   terrible.     On   the   right 
Raged  for  hours  the  deadly  fight. 
Thundered  the  battery's  double  bass— 
Difficult  music  for  men  to  face; 
While  on  the  left — where  now  the  graves 
Undulate   like   the   living  waves 
That  all   that  day  unceasing  swept 
Up  to  the  pits  the  rebels  kept — 
Round  shot  ploughed  the  upland  glades. 
Sown  with  bullets,   reaped  with  blades; 
Shattered  fences  here  and  there 
Tossed   their  splinters   in   the  air; 
The  very  trees  were  stripped  and  bare; 
The  barns  that  once   held   yellow  grain 
Were  heaped  with  harvests  of  the  slain; 
The  cattle   bellowed   on   the  plain. 
The  turkeys  screamed  with  might  and  main. 
And  brooding  barn-fowl  left  their  rest 
With  strange  shells  bursting  in  each  nest. 
So  raged  the  battle.    You  know  the  rest: 
How  the  rebels,  beaten  and  backward  pressed. 
Broke  at  the  final  charge  and  ran. 
At  which  John  Burns— a  practical  man — 
Shouldered  his  rifle,  unbent  his  brows, 
And  then  went  back  to  his  bees  and  cows. 

Gen.  Callis  of  Lancaster  is  said  to  have  given  John  Burns  the 
rifle  which  he  used  at  Gettysburg. 


258  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

Special  honor  was  secured  by  the  Fifth  Wisconsin  at  the  battle 
of  Williamsburg,  where  they  came  upon  the  enemy  for  the  first  time. 
In  the  severe  fighting  before  Fort  Magruder,  at  the  junction  of  the 
Yorktown  and  Hampton  roads,  their  courage  and  endurance  were 
put  to  a  severe  test.  A  Sentinel  correspondent  thus  described  the 
critical  period  of  the  battle:  "Numbers  of  our  men  were  lying  on 
the  ground,  their  oil  cloths  over  them,  to  protect  them  from  the 
pelting  rain,  which  had  been  falling  all  day.  Some  were  asleep, 
some  sitting  in  squads,  others  alone,  with  their  heads  reclining 
upon  their  hands,  when  the  sharp,  quick  rattle  of  musketry  startled 
every  one  to  his  feet,  to  see  our  skirmishers  attacked  by  an  over- 
whelming force.  Everyone  sprang  to  his  place,  when  from  a  corner 
of  the  woods,  about  400"  yards  from  us,  could  be  seen  a  regiment  of 
cavalry  and  two  regiments  of  infantry  deploying  into  the  open  field 
in  our  front  at  double  quick.  Ten  guns  were  the  object  they  cov- 
eted, but  Wisconsin  boys  were  there  to  defend  them.  Over  1,000  of 
the  bravest  chivalry  of  the  South  now  advanced  against  less  than 
500  of  the  Badger  state.  Our  batteries  limbered  up  and  left  us  to 
fight  our  own  battle.  Not  discouraged,  our  men  stood  their  ground 
manfully,  notwithstanding  comrades  were  falling  thick  and  fast." 
Pressed  back  by  overwhelming  numbers,  the  soldiers  from  Wis- 
consin retreated  slowly,  disputing  every  inch  of  ground. 

"Will  you  leave  me  and  the  old  flag?"'  cried  Col.  Amasa  Cobb, 
as  they  seemed  to  waver  before  the  furious  onslaught  of  the  enemy. 
"No,  never!"  came  the  hearty  response,  and  the  men  rallied 
around  the  flag  with  a  firmness  that  checked  the  rebels.  Two  regi- 
ments from  Maine  now  poured  a  shower  of  lead  into  the  ranks  of 
the  foe  so  opportunely  checked,  and  as  the  batteries  sent  a  hail  of 
grape  into  their  ranks,  the  rebels  broke  and  fled  in  wild  confusion. 
The  situation  of  the  Fifth  Wisconsin  had  been  the  most  critical, 
pitted  as  they  were  with  two  Maine  regiments  against  six  of  the 
best  Confederate  regiments,  comprising  nearly  4,000  men.  The  battle 
flag  of  the  Fifth  North  Carolina,  with  its  unique  emblem  of  the 
Southern  cross,  bearing  fifteen  stars,  was  a  trophy  that  fell  to  the 
Wisconsin  men. 

"My  lads,"  said  Gen.  McClellan  two  days  later,  "I  have  come  to 
thank  you  for  your  gallant  conduct  the  other  day.  You  have  gained 
honor  for  your  country,  your  state  and  the  army  to  which  you 
belong.  Through  you  we  won  the  day,  and  Williamsburg  shall  be 
inscribed  upon  your  banner." 

Glorious  was  the  charge  of  the  Wisconsin's  Irish  regiment  at 
the  battle  of  Corinth.  This  regiment  carried  not  only  the  stars  and 
stripes,  but  likewise  the  distinctive  colors  of  their  native  isle.  They 
were  dashing,  almost  reckless,  in  impetuous  bravery.  On  this  occa- 
sion they  were  ordered  to  charge  with  the  bayonet,  the  rebels  hav- 
ing crossed  a  line  of  breastworks,  hotly  driving  the  Union  men 
before  them. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  259 


"Faugh  a  ballah,"  was  their  battle  cry,  and  they  shouted  it  in 
unison  as  they  bore  down  upon  the  rebels.  The  enemy  sought  to 
ward  off  the  shock  of  the  wild  dash  by  a  deadly  volley  that  felled 
forty  men  and  made  rags  of  the  flying  national  and  Irish  colors. 
Undeterred  the  Irishmen  swept  down  upon  the  Confederates,  and 
soon  their  solid  wall  of  glistening  steel  had  put  to  rout  an  entire 
brigade  of  panic-stricken  rebels. 

"Boys  of  the  Seventeenth,"  said  their  brigade  commander,  Gen. 
McArthur,  "you  have  made  the  most  glorious  charge  of  the  cam- 
paign." 

Perched  upon  a  banner  of  the  Eighth  Wisconsin  regiment  in  all 
its  marches  and  during  all  the  battles  in  which  the  regiment  fought, 
was  a  live  eagle  that  gave  to  the  famous  regiment  its  name — Eagle 
Regiment.  "Old  Abe,"  the  Wisconsin  war  eagle  was  called,  and 
whenever  his  scream  of  battle  was  heard,  there  confusion  came 
upon  the  Confederates.  "Old  Abe"  soon  became  famous.  The 
rebel  general,  Price,  ordered  his  men  to  kill  or  capture  the  bird  at 
all  hazards. 

"I  would  rather  have  you  capture  the  eagle  of  the  Eighth  Wis- 
consin than  a  dozen  battle  flags,"  he  declared  to  his  men. 

None  of  the  many  rebel  bullets  that  sped  in  his  direction  found 
lodgment  beneath  his  feathers.  In  the  din  and  smoke  of  battle,  he 
spread  his  pinions  and  uttered  wild,  piercing  screams  that  grew 
wilder  and  fiercer  as  the  storm  of  battle  grew  louder. 

"When  the  battle  raged  most  fiercely,"  wrote  a  correspondent  m 
Harper's  Weekly,  "and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  soldiers  was  at  its 
highest,  then  it  was  that  Old  Abe  seemed  to  be  in  his  element.  He 
flapped  his  wings  in  the  midst  of  the  furious  storm,  and  with  head 
erect  faced  the  flying  bullets  and  the  crashing  shells  with  no  sign  of 
fear.  Old  Abe  triumphs  with  the  triumph  of  the  flag,  and  seems  in 
some  measure  conscious  of  his  relationship  with  the  emblem  of  a 
victorious  republic." 

Through  thirty-six  battles  and  skirmishes  Wisconsin's  war  eagle 
went  unscathed. 

During  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Ohancellorsville,  Col.  Thomas 
Allen's  Fifth  Wisconsin  regiment  won  great  glory,  though  at  fear- 
ful cost,  by  the  capture,  in  company  with  two  other  regiments,  of 
the  rebel  redoubt  on  Marye's  Heights.  Five  thousand  men  had  lost 
their  lives  in  vain  attempts  to  take  this  natural  fortress.  Before 
starting  on  their  perilous  mission,  Col.  Allen  addressed  his  men: 

"Boys,  you  see  those  heights.  You  have  got  to  take  them.  You 
think  you  can't  do  it,  but  you  can!  You  will  do  it!  When  the  order 
'forward'  is  given  you  will  start  at  double  quick;  you  will  not  fire  a 
gun;  you  will  not  stop  until  you  get  the  order  to  halt!  You  will 
never  get  that  order!" 

The  order  to  march  was  responded  to  with  alacrity.  Up  the 
slope  went  the  men  till  they  came  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the 


260  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

stone  wall.  Then  from  rifle  pits  above  and  on  each  side,  from 
behind  the  wall  of  stone  and  from  the  windows  of  houses  and  from 
batteries  oh  the  crests  of  the  hill,  came  a  murderous  fire.  The  car- 
nage was  terrible.  Within  a  few  minutes  five  hundred  men  had 
fallen,  and  still  bullets  and  canister  came  in  steady  stream  and 
mowed  the  ranks  of  the  assaulting  columns.  Undaunted,  the  gal- 
lant Fifth  kept  on  its  way  and  reached  the  wall.  They  leaped  the 
wall;  their  bayonets  gleamed  as  they  thrust  at  the  defenders;  they 
scaled  the  heights  and  the  rebels  surrendered. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Wisconsin  soldiers  to  open  the  memorable 
battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing.  A  reconnoitering  force  of  the  Six- 
teenth Wisconsin  came  upon  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy  sta- 
tioned behind  a  fence,  and  were  fired  up'on.  Lieut. -Col.  Fairchild 
commanded  part  of  the  force  and  was  the  first  to  announce  the  com- 
ing of  the  rebels.  The  Sixteenth  and  Eighteenth  Wisconsin  regi- 
ments were  attacked  with  great  fury,  and  were  forced  to  fall  back. 
The  Eighteenth  had  but  just  arrived  from  Milwaukee  when  its  men 
found  themselves  in  the  front  of  the  battle.  But  a  week  before 
they  had  been  encamped  at  home;  some  of  them  had  never  loaded 
a  musket  before.  "Many  of  the  men,"  Gov.  Harvey  wrote  from  the 
battlefield  a  few  days  later,  "heard  the  order  to  load  and  fire  for  the 
first  time  in  their  lives  In  the  presence  of  the  enemy." 

When  the  telegraph  apprised  the  people  of  Wisconsin  how  ill  her 
soldiers  had  fared  on  the  bloody  field  of  Shiloh,  Gov.  Harvey  organ- 
ized a  relief  expedition  and  determined  to  go  in  person  to  the  scene 
of  carnage  to  care  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  Necessary  supplies 
were  generously  contributed  by  the  people  of  Wisconsin,  and  in 
less  than  twenty-four  hours  after  the  receipt  of  the  news  a  car  load 
of  the  supplies  was  on  the  way.  The  governor  and  his  party  cared 
for  the  sick  and  wounded  from  his  state  and  arranged  for  their 
transportation  home. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1862,  Gov.  Harvey  was  aboard  the  steamer 
Dunleith  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  Minnehaha,  which  was 
to  take  him  down  the  river.  It  was  a  dark,  rainy  night.  The  gov- 
ernor was  standing  near  the  bow  of  the  Dunleith,  when  the  Minne- 
haha came  alongside.  Whether  he  missed  his  footing  as  he  tried 
to  step  over,  or  whether  he  slipped  on  the  wet  plank,  is  not  posi- 
tively known.  A  splash  between  the  steamers  apprised  his  com- 
panions that  he  had  fallen  into  the  river.  In  the  darkness  the 
efforts  made  to  save  him  proved  fulile;  the  rapid  current  of  the 
Tennessee  swept  him  beyond  the  reach  of  friendly  hands,  and  sev- 
eral days  later  his  body  was  found  by  negro  children  sixty  miles 
below.  The  remains  were  conveyed  to  the  state  capital  by  special 
train.  The  death  of  the  governor  caused  genuine  sorrow,  for  he 
was  a  man  of  broad  sympathies  and  had  endeared  himself  to  the 
people  during  the  brief  time  of  his  administration. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  261 

Only  those  who  have  seen  the  ascent  of  Missionary  Ridge  can 
appreciate  the  valor  of  the  Wisconsin  soldiers  who  stormed  that 
height,  with  the  belching  fire  of  fifty  cannon  mowing  their  ranks. 
"At  twenty  minutes  to  4  o'clock,"  says  one  account  of  the  battle, 
"six  signal  guns  were  fired,  and  the  long-waiting,  ardent  troops 
leap  forth  first  to  carry  the  rifle  pits  at  the  foot  of  Missionary  Ridge. 
Wood's  and  Sheridan's  skirmishers  take  the  advance.  Baird's  divi- 
sion, embracing  the  First,  Tenth  and  Twenty-first  Wisconsin,  moves 
at  the  left  of  Wood,  and  Johnson  on  the  right  of  Sheridan.  As  they 
come  to  the  base  of  the  mountain  the  rebel  pickets  swarm  out  of 
their  rifle  pits  in  great  amazement  and  flee  before  them.  As  yet  no 
word  of  command  has  been  given  to  go  beyond  the  base,  but  they 
stop  not  for  orders.  A  few  moments  they  delay  to  re-form,  and 
then  start  up  the  ascent.  Front  and  enfilading  shot,  from  musketry 
and  fifty  cannon,  are  plunging  down  upon  them;  some  fall,  the  rest 
press  dauntlessly  on;  they  clamber  up  the  side,  leaping  ditches, 
jumping  logs,  advancing  in  zig-zag  lines,  rushing  over  all  obstacles, 
dodging,  if  they  can,  the  missiles  of  heavy  stone  thrown  down  upon 
them  by  the  rebels,  and  thrusting  aside  their  bayonets  until  they 
reach  the  top,  beat  back  the  enemy  and  take  the  ridge.  Then  go  up 
tremendous  shouts  of  joy,  which  are  echoed  back  from  every  loyal 
household  of  the  land." 

"The  Third  Wisconsin,"  wrote  a  correspondent  of  The  New 
York  Post  in  reporting  the  second  battle  of  Winchester,  "was 
exposed  to  an  enfilading  fire  of  four  or  five  rebel  regiments;  yet,  as 
cool  as  if  on  parade,  faced  about  and  marched  the  whole  line  down 
the  hill  toward  town.  As  this  regiment  came  down  the  hill,  three 
companies  formed  behind  a  stone  wall  and  poured  into  the  advanc- 
ing rebels  a  withering  fire." 

"Boys,  I  am  proud  of  you,"  said  Gen.  Sullivan  to  the  Twelfth 
Wisconsin  battery  on  the  field  of  Corinth.  "You  have  done  nobly. 
The  dead  in  front  of  your  battery  show  the  work  you  have  done." 

Two  regiments  of  infantry  and  four  batteries  from  Wisconsin 
had  a  part  in  the  capture  of  Island  No.  10.  Gen.  Pope  ordered  "New 
Madrid"  and  "Island  No.  10"  to  be  inscribed  on  the  banners  of  the 
Eighth  Wisconsin  in  recognition  of  their  bravery. 

The  incidents  which  have  been  told  are  but  few  of  many  that 
are  associated  with  the  valorous  conduct  of  Wisconsin's  soldiers 
in  the  war.  Nor  are  they  confined  to  one  or  a  dozen  regiments. 
Deeds  of  individual  heroism  and  of  bravery  pertaining  to  all  alike 
marked  the  conduct  of  every  regiment  and  every  battery  that  Wis- 
consin sent  to  the  front.  If  one  excelled  another,  it  was  because  of 
more  abundant  opportunity.  In  the  grand  summing  up  of  achieve- 
ment, they  share  alike  in  their  unflinching  response  to  the  call  of 
duty. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LIEUT.    CUSHING'S   DEED    OF   HEROISM. 

Many  as  were  the  deeds  of  heroism  during  the  civil  war,  none 
outranks  in  daring  and  sagacity  that  of  Lieut.  W.  B.  Gushing,  a 
native  of  Delafield,  in  Waukesha  county.  The  destruction  of  the 
ram  Albemarle  which  he  planned  and  successfully  executed  was  like 
"fighting  a  powder  magazine  with  a  coal  of  fire."  With  this  engine 
of  destruction,  the  Confederates  had  sunk  the  steamer  Southfield 
and  put  to  flight  her  companion  vessel,  the  Miami,  in  Albemarle 
Sound.  In  a  terrific  engagement  with  the  entire  fleet,  the  rebel  iron- 
clad had  been  somewhat  battered,  but  had  not  been  captured,  and 
held  for  the  Confederates  the  river  front  of  the  town  of  Plymouth, 
N.  C,  which  the  Union  forces  w^ere  attacking  by  land  and  water. 

The  destruction  of  the  iron-clad  by  means  of  a  torpedo  rendered 
possible  the  subsequent  capture  of  this  North  Carolina  town  by 
removing  the  protection  on  the  river  front.  Cushing's  daring 
exploit  occurred  during  the  night  of  October  27,  1864.  Although 
rebel  guards  were  stationed  on  the  exposed  top  deck  of  the  sunken 
steamer  Southfield,  and  although  a  boom  of  logs  surrounded  the 
Albemarle  at  a  distance  of  thirty  feet,  the  fast  little  torpedo  boat 
that  Cushing  commanded  eluded  the  guard  and  ran  up  to  the  logs, 
where  Cushing  succeeded  in  exploding  his  torpedo  beneath  the  ram. 
He  had  fourteen  men  with  him.  All  of  them  were  captured;  his 
own  escape  was  due  to  the  same  daring  spirit  that  prompted  the 
enterprise.  The  details  of  the  torpedo  boat's  expedition  and  the 
personal  experiences  of  its  commander  in  making  his  escape  from 
the  jaws  of  death  are  well  worth  telling. 

Cushing  had  two  plans  for  encompassing  the  destruction  of  the 
rebel  iron-clad.  One  was  for  a  hundred  men  to  reach  the  vicinity  by 
penetrating  a  thick  swamp,  and  to  board  the  ram  by  means  of 
inflated  India  rubber  boats.  The  'second  was  for  a  small  party  to 
approach  in  two  small  launches  and  to  explode  a  torpedo  beneath 
the  ram.  The  latter  plan  was  attempted.  On  the  w^ay  down  to 
Norfolk  one  of  the  little  boats  was  captured.  It  was  the  best  one, 
but  Cushing  pursued  his  way  undaunted.  Nobody  knew  whither  he 
was  bound  save  himself.  Fifty  miles  up  the  sound  he  told  his  men, 
for  the  first  time,  the  purpose  in  view,  and  gave  every  man  the  priv- 
ilege of  leaving.     Not  one  accepted  the  proffered  release. 

The  approach  of  Cushing's  little  boat  toward  the  iron- 
clad was  like  a  journey  into  the  jaws  of  death.  Aboard  the  rebel 
ram  was  a  force  of  ten  times  the  handful  accompanying  Cushing; 
near  by,  ashore,  were  thousands  of  rebels.  The  shot  of  a  picket 
would  prove  their  death  warrant;  the  chances  were  that  the  success 

262 


The  Story  of  the  State. 


263 


of  their  enterprise  would  involve  their  own  destruction.  It  was  like 
fighting  a  duel  at  half  a  dozen  paces,  one  combatant  armed  with  a 
pistol,  the  other  with  a  cannon. 

The  rebel  pickets  on  the  exposed  part  of  the  submerged  vessel 
failed  to  notice  Cushing's  boat  as  it  passed  within  thirty  feet  of 
them.  All  unconscious  of  impending  danger,  the  Albemarle  lay  at 
her  moorings.  Gushing  determined  to  creep  around  and  suddenly 
dash  aboard  from  the  bank. 

"Just  as  I  was  sheering  in  close  to  the  wharf,"  says  Cushing's 
account,  as  published  in  The  Century  war  papers,  "a  hail  came  sharp 
and  quick  from  the  iron-clad,  and  in  an  instant  was  repeated.  I  at 
once  directed  the  cutter  to  cast  off,  and  go  down  tO'  capture  the 
guard  left  in  our  rear,  and  ordering  all  steam  went  at  the  dark 


Commander  W.    B.   Gushing,   U.   S.    N. 


mountain  of  iron  in  front  of  us.  A  heavy  fire  was  at  once  opened 
upon  us,  not  only  from  the  ship,  but  from  men  stationed  on  the 
shore.  This  did  not  disable  us,  and  we  neared  them  rapidly.  A 
large  fire  now  blazed  upon  the  bank,  and  by  its  light  I  discovered 
the  unfortunate  fact  that  there  was  a  large  circle  of  logs  around  the 
Albemarle,  boomed  well  out  from  her  side,  with  the  very  intention 
of  preventing  the  action  of  torpedoes.  To  examine  them  more 
closely  I  ran  alongside  until  amidships,  received  the  enemy's  fire, 
and  sheered  off  for  the  purpose  of  turning,  a  himdred  yards  away, 
and  going  at  the  booms  squarely  at  right  angles,  trusting  to  their 
having  been  long  enough  in  the  water  to  have  become  slimy — in 
which  case  my  boat,  under  full  headway,  would  bump  up  against 
them  and  slip  over  into  the  pen  with  the  ram.  This  was  my  only 
chance  of  success,  and  once  over  the  obstruction,  my  boat  would 


264  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

never  get  out  again;  but  I  was  there  to  accomplish  an  important 
object  and  to  die,  if  needs  be,  was  but  a  duty.  As  I  turned,  the 
whole  back  of  my  coat  was  torn  out  by  buckshot  and  the  sole  of  my 
shoe  was  carried  away.    The  fire  was  very  severe." 

During  a  lull  in  the  firing  the  rebel  captain's  voice  came  over 
the  water  from  the  iron-clad,  asking  the  intniders  who  they  were. 

"All  my  men,"  continues  Gushing,  "gave  some  comical  answers, 
and  mine  was  a  dose  of  canister,  which  I  sent  among  them  from  the 
howitzer,  buzzing  and  singing  against  the  iron  ribs  and  into  the 
mass  of  men  standing  by  the  fire  upon  the  shore.  In  another 
instant  we  had  struck  the  logs  and  were  over,  with  headway  nearly 
gone,  slowly  forging  up  under  the  enemy's  quarter-port.  Ten  feet 
from  us  the  muzzle  of  a  rifle-gun  looked  into  our  faces,  and  every 
word  of  command  on  board  was  distinctly  heard. 

"My  clothing  was  perforated  with  bullets  as  I  stood  in  the  bow, 
the  heel-j'gger  in  my  right  hand  and  the  exploding  line  in  the  left. 
We  were  near  enough  then,  and  I  ordered  the  boom  lowered  until 
the  forward  motion  of  the  launch  carried  the  torpedo  under  the 
ram's  overhang.  A  strong  pull  of  the  detaching  line,  a  moment's 
waiting  for  the  torpedo  to  rise  under  the  hull,  and  I  hauled  in  the 
left  hand,  just  cut  by  a  bullet." 

Simultaneously  with  the  explosion  there  crashed  into  the  midst 
of  the  men  on  the  launch  a  hundred  pounds  of  grape,  from  less 
than  a  dozen  feet  range.  At  the  same  instant  almost  a  tremendous 
volume  of  water  which  the  torpedo  had  propelled  into  the  air  came 
down  with  crushing  weight. 

"Save  yourselves,"  cried  Gushing,  as  he  threw  away  sword, 
revolver  and  shoes  and  plunged  into  the  chilling  water  of  the  river. 

"Surrender!"  came  the  summons  from  the  enemy.  "Surrender!" 
came  in  repetition,  and  a  hail  of  bullets  fell  on  all  sides  of  the 
gallant  commander,  as  he  swam  for  the  opposite  shore.  Boats  soon 
pulled  in  every  direction,  picking  up  and  making  prisoners  the  dar- 
ing men  who  had  blown  a  hole  through  the  bottom  of  the  iron- 
clad. Gushing  knew  that  the  fleet  of  the  Unionists  was  a  dozen 
miles  away,  biit  he  preferred  death  to  surrender.  Unheeding  the 
summons  of  his  pursuers  he  swam  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  for 
a  place  of  shelter.  At  times  it  seemed  as  if  he  must  give  up  the 
struggle  and  sink  beneath  the  waters  of  the  Roanoke  never  to  rise 
again. 

"I  directed  my  course  towards  the  town  side  of  the  river,"  says 
his  narrative,  "not  making  much  headway,  as  my  strokes  were  now 
very  feeble,  my  clothes  being  soaked  and  heavy,  and  little  chop- 
seas  splashing  with  a  choking  persistence  into  my  mouth  every 
time  that  I  gasped  for  breath.  Still  there  was  a  determination  not 
to  sink,  a  will  not  to  give  up;  and  I  kept  up  a  sort  of  mechanical 
motion  long  after  my  bodily  force  was  in  fact  expended. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  265 


"At  last,  and  not  a  moment  too  soon,  I  touched  the  soft  mud, 
and  in  the  excitement  of  the  first  shocli,  I  half  raised  my  body  and 
made  one  step  forward;  then  fell,  and  remained  half  in  the  mud  and 
half  in  the  water  until  daylight,  unable  even  to  crawl  on  hands  and 
knees,  nearly  frozen,  with  brain  in  a  whirl,  but  with  one  thing 
strong  in  me— the  fixed  determination  to  escape.  The  prospect  of 
drowning,  starvation,  death  in  the  swamps— all  seemed  lesser  evils 
than  that  of  surrender." 

Daylight  showed  Gushing  his  perilous  situation.  Scarcely  forty 
yards  away  was  one  of  the  forts  of  Plymouth.  Soldiers  and  sailors 
filled  the  town,  and  their  movements  betokened  great  excitement. 
The  narrative  of  Cushing's  remarkable  escape  from  his  place  of 
peril  is  thrilling.     Here  it  is  in  his  own  words: 

"It  was  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  me  to  know  that  I  had  pulled 
the  -wire  that  set  all  these  figures  moving  (in  a  manner  quite  as  inter- 
esting as  the  best  of  theatricals),  but  as  I  had  no  desire  of  being 
discovered  by  any  of  the  rebs  who  were  so  plentiful  around  me, 
I  did  not  long  remain  a  spectator.  My  first  object  was  to  get  into 
a  dry  fringe  of  rushes  that  edged  the  swamp;  but  to  do  this  required 
me  to  pass  over  thirty  or  forty  feet  of  open  ground,  right  under  the 
eye  of  the  sentinel  who  walked  the  parapet. 

"Watching  until  he  turned  for  a  moment,  I  made  a  dash  to  cross 
the  space,  was  only  half  way  when  he  turned  and  forced  me  to  drop 
down  right  between  two  paths,  and  almost  entirely  unshielded. 
Perhaps  I  was  unobserved  because  of  the  mud  that  covered  me,  and 
made  me  blend  in  with  the  earth;  at  all  events  the  soldier  contin- 
ued his  tramp  for  some  time,  while  I,  flat  on  my  back,  awaited 
another  chance  for  action.  Soon  a  party  of  four  men  came  down 
the  path  at  my  rig^'ht,  two  of  them  being  ofiicers,  and  passed  so 
close  to  me  as  almost  to  tread  upon  my  arm.  They  were  convers- 
ing upon  the  events  of  the  previous  night  and  wondering  ho'W  it 
was  done,  entirely  unconscious  of  the  presence  of  one  who  could 
give  them  the  infonnation.  This  proved  to  me  the  necessity  of 
regaining  the  swamp,  which  I  did  by  sinking  my  heels  and  elbows 
into  the  earth  and  forcing  my  body  inch  by  inch  towards  it.  For 
five  hours,  then,  with  bare  feet,  head  and  hands,  I  made  my  way 
where  I  venture  to  say  none  ever  did  before,  until  I  came  at  last  to 
a  clear  place,  where  I  might  rest  upon  solid  ground.  The  cypress 
swamp  was  a  network  of  thorns  and  briers,  that  cut  into  the  fiesh 
at  every  step  like  knives,  and  frequently,  when  the  soft  mire  would 
not  bear  my  weight,  I  was  forced  to  throw  my  body  upon  it  at 
length  and  haul  it  along  by  the  arms.  Hands  and  feet  were  raw 
when  I  reached  the  clearing,  and  yet  my  difficulties  were  but  com- 
menced. A  working  party  of  soldiers  was  in  the  opening,  engaged 
in  sinking  some  schooner  in  the  river  to  obstruct  the  channel.  I 
passed  twenty  yards  in  their  rear  through  a  corn  furrow  and  gained 


266  Leading  Evoits  of  Wisconsin  History. 

some  weeds  below.  Here  I  encountered  a  negro,  and  after  serving 
out  to  him  twenty  dollars  in  greenbacks  and  some  texts  of  scrip- 
ture (two  powerful  arguments  with  an  old  darkey),  I  had  confidence 
enough  in  his  fidelity  to  send  him  into  town  for  news  of  the  ram." 

Doubtless  the  time  seemed  hours  to  Gushing  while  awaiting 
the  return  of  the  darkey.  "When  he  returned,"  Cushing's  narrative 
continues,  "and  there  was  no  longer  doubt  that  she  had  gone  down, 
I  went  on  again  and  plunged  into  a  swamp  so  thick  that  I  had  only 
the  sun  for  a  guide  and  could  not  see  ten  feet  in  advance.  About  2 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I  came  out  from  the  dense  mass  of  reeds 
upon  the  bank  of  one  of  the  deep  narrow  streams  that  abound  there, 
and  right  opposite  to  the  only  road  in  the  vicinity.  It  seemed  prov- 
idential that  I  should  come  just  there,  for  thirty  yards  above  or  below 
I  never  should  have  seen  the  road,  and  might  have  struggled  on  until 
worn  out  and  starved — found  a  never-to-be-discovered  grave.  As 
it  was  my  fortune  had  led  me  to  where  a  picket  party  of  seven  sol- 
diers were  posted,  having  a  little,  flat-bottomed,  square-ended  skiff 
toggled  to  the  root  of  a  cypres  tree  that  squirmed  like  a  snake  into 
the  inky  water.  Watching  them  until  they  went  back  a  few  yards 
to  eat,  I  crept  into  the  stream  and  swam  over,  keeping  the  big  tree 
between  myself  and  them,  and  making  for  the  skiff. 

"Gaining  the  bank,  I  quietly  cast  loose  the  boat  and  floated 
behind  it  some  thirty  yards  around  the  first  bend,  where  I  got  in 
and  paddled  away  as  only  a  man  would  whose  liberty  was  at  stake. 

"Hour  after  hour  I  paddled,  never  ceasing  for  a  moment,  first 
on  one  side,  then  on  the  other,  while  sunshine  passed  into  twilight 
and  that  was  swallowed  up  in  thick  darkness,  only  relieved  by 
the  few  faint  star  raj's  that  penetrated  the  heavy  swamp  curtain 
on  either  side.  At  last  I  reached  the  mouth  of  the  JRoanoke,  and 
found  the  open  sound  before  me." 

Fortunately  for  the  fugitive  the  sea  was  calm,  for  his  frail  craft 
would  have  certainly  been  capsized  had  there  been  an  ordinary 
sea.  There  was  just  sufiicient  swell  to  influence  his  boat,  and  he 
"was  forced  to  paddle  all  upon  one  side  to  keep  her  on  the  intended 
course." 

For  two  hours  he  continued  to  steer  for  the  place  where  he 
believed  the  federal  fleet  to  be,  with  a  star  for  his  compass.  "At 
length,"  to  quote  his  narrative  once  more,  "I  discovered  one  of  the 
vessels,  and  after  a  long  time  got  within  hail.  My  'ship  ahoy!'  was 
given  with  the  last  of  my  strength,  and  I  fell  powerless,  with  a 
splash,  into  the  water  in  the  bottom  of  my  boat,  and  awaited  results. 
I  had  paddled  every  minute  for  ten  consecutive  hours,  and  for  four 
my  body  had  been  'asleep,'  with  the  exception  of  my  arms  and 
brain.  The  picket  vessel,  Valley  City — for  it  was  she —  upon  hearing 
the  hail  at  once  slipped  her  cable  and  got  under  way,  at  the  same 
time  lowering  boats  and  taking  precautions  against  torpedoes. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  267 


"It  was  some  time  before  they  would  pick  me  up,  being  cou- 
vinced  that  I  was  the  rebel  conductor  of  an  infernal  machine,  and 
that  Lieut.  Gushing  had  died  the  night  before. 

"At  last  I  was  on  board,  had  imbibed  a  little  brandy  and  water, 
and  was  on  my  way  to  the  flag-ship,  commanded  by  Commander 
Macomb.  As  soon  as  it  became  known  that  I  had  returned,  rock- 
ets were  thrown  up  and  all  hands  called  to  cheer  ship;  and  when  I 
announced  success,  all  the  commanding  officers  were  summoned  on 
board  to  deliberate  a  plan  of  attack.  In  the  morning  I  was  again 
well  in  every  way,  with  the  exception  of  hands  and  feet,  and  had 
the  pleasure  of  exchanging  shots  with  the  batteries  that  I  had 
inspected  the  day  previous.  I  was  sent  in  the  Valley  City  to  report 
to  Admiral  Porter  at  Hampton  Roads,  and  soon  after  Plymoutn 
and  i^iie  whole  district  of  the  Albemarle,  deprived  of  the  iron-clad's 
protection,  fell  an  easy  prey  to  Commander  Macomb  and  our  fleet." 

The  Captain  of  the  Albemarle  at  the  time  she  was  sunk  by  Cush- 
ing's  torpedo  afterwards  declared  that  "a  more  gallant  thing  was  not 
done  during  the  war."  It  was  indeed  a  daring  enterprise,  requiring 
not  merely  daring,  but  a  high  degree  of  coolness  and  skill.  The 
torpedo  arrangement  was  a  complicated  affair.  "In  considering 
the  merits  of  Cushing's  success  with  this  exceedingly  complicated 
instrument,"  remarked  J.  R.  Soley  in  a  Century  foot-note,  "it  must 
be  remembered  that  nothing  short  of  the  utmost  care  in  preparation 
could  keep  its  mechanism  in  working  order;  that  in  making  ready 
to  use  it,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  the  end  of  the  spar  elevated  until 
the  boat  had  surmounted  the  boom  of  logs,  and  to  judge  accurately 
the  distance  in  order  to  stop  the  boat's  headway  at  the  right  point, 
that  the  spar  must  then  be  lowered  with  the  same  precision  of 
judgment;  that  the  detaching  laniard  must  then  be  pulled  firmly, 
but  without  a  jerk;  that,  finally,  the  position  of  the  torpedo  under 
the  knuckle  of  the  ram  must  be  calculated  to  a  nicety,  and  that 
by  a  very  gentle  strain  on  a  line  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet 
long  the  tripper-pin  must  be  withdrawn.  When  it  is  reflected  that 
Cushing  had  attached  to  his  person  four  separate  lines,  viz.,  the 
detaching  laniard,  the  trigger-line,  and  two  lines  to  direct  the  move- 
ments of  the  boat,  one  of  which  was  fastened  to  the  wrist,  and 
the  other  to  the  ankle  of  the  engineer;  that  he  was  also  directing 
the  adjustment  of  the  spar  by  the  halliard;  that  the  management 
of  all  these  lines,  requiring  as  much  exactness  and  delicacy  of 
touch  as  a  surgical  operation,  where  a  single  error  in  their  employ- 
ment, even  a  pull  too  much  or  too  little,  would  render  the  whole 
expedition  abortive,  was  carried  out  under  a  flre  of  musketry — so 
hot  that  several  bullets  passed  through  his  clothing — and  directly 
in  front  of  the  muzzle  of  a  100-pounder  rifle,  and  carried  out  with 
perfect  success,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  naval  history  of  the  world 
affords  no  other  example  of  such  mai-velous  coolness  and  profes- 


268  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

sional  skill  as  that  shown  by  Gushing  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Albemarle." 

Before  starting  out  on  this  perilous  expedition,  young  Gushing 
visited  his  mother  at  her  home,  and  told  her  all  the  particulars 
of  the  apparently  suicidal  venture. 

"Mother,"  he  said.  "I  have  undertaken  a  great  project,  and  no 
soul  must  know  until  it  is  accomplished.  I  must  tell  you  for  I 
need  your  praj^ers." 

"My  son,"  said  his  distressed  mother,  "I  believe  you  will 
accomplish  it,  but  you  cannot  come  out  alive.  Why  did  they  call 
upon  j^ou  to  do  this?" 

"Mother,"  was  the  reply,  "it  shall  be  done,  or  you  will  have  no 
son  Will.     If  I  die,  it  will  be  in  a  good  cause." 

Mrs.  Gushing  suffered  all  the  agony  of  a  mother  in  dreadful 
suspense,  until  there  came  a  telegram  from  her  other  son:  "William 
is  safe  and  successful." 

Gushing  received  a  vote  of  thanks  from  congress  and  the  con- 
gratulations of  the  Nsivy  department.  He  was  also  promoted  to  the 
grade  of  lieutenant-commander. 


^' 


■     CHAPTER  X. 

A    DAM     THAT     SAVED     A     FLOTILLA. 

In  the  museum  of  the  State  Historical  society,  at  Madis/on,  are 
the  sword  and  uniform  of  Gen.  Joseph  Bailey.  The  legislature 
purchased  them  a  few  years  ago  from  Gen.  Bailey's  widow  in 
recognition  of  the  famous  achievement  of  this  officer  in  saving 
from  destruction  the  Mississippi  flotilla  under  Admiral  Porter.  Early 
in  the  year  1864,  the  Unionists  planned  an  invasion  of  Texas  by 
way  of  the  Red  river.  It  was  a  part  of  this  plan  that  Admiral 
Porter's  fleet  of  gunboats  should  cooperate  with  a  land  force  under 
Gen.  Banks,  and  the  boats  were  ordered  to  Natchitoehes,  eighty 
miles  above  Alexandria.  Low  water  greatly  embarrassed  the  opera- 
tions of  the  fleet,  many  of  the  larger  boats  being  unable  to  pass 
beyond  Grand  Encore.  While  the  boats  were  endeavoring  to  ascend 
the  Red  river,  the  land  forces  had  gone  on  and  engaged  the  Con- 
federate forces,  finally  finding  it  necessary  to  retreat.  In  this  situa- 
tion the  fleet  found  itself  in  perilous  predicament.  The  water  con- 
tinued to  fall,  and  the  guns  of  the  rebels  galled  the  crews  as  they 
sought  to  retrace  their  way  down  the  river.  When  they  fi,nally 
reached  Alexandria  the  stage  of  water  was  so  low  that  the  passage 
of  the  rapids  was  an  utter  impossiblity.  By  this  time  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  expedition  had  been  fully  decided  upon,  and  it  became 
a  matter  of  the  utmost  importance  and  urgency  to  extricate  the  fleet 
from  its  predicament. 

Joseph  Bailey  of  the  Fourth  Wisconsin  calvary  was  acting 
chief  engineer  of  the  Nineteenth  army  corps.  While  the  engineers 
were  nonplussed  as  to  the  proper  thing  to  do,  Bailey  recalled  a 
simple  method  which  he  had  often  employed  while  lumbering  in 
Wisconsin.  He  proposed  to  dam  the  river  and  run  the  boats  down 
by  means  of  a  sluice. 

"It  cannot  be  successfully  done,"  was  the  unanimous  comment 
of  his  fellow  engineers.  Porter  also  doubted  the  feasibility  of  the 
project.  The  necessity  of  doing  something  became  so  urgent  that 
finally  Bailey's  apparently  absurd  plan  was  tried.  The  river  was 
dammed,  and  in  eleven  days  all  the  boats  had  safely  passed  the 
rapids.  The  fleet  was  saved.  The  squadron  of  iron-clads  was  thus 
enabled  to  safely  return  to  the  Mississippi  river.  Bailey's  achieve- 
ment made  him  famous,  and  he  was  given  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general  in  recognition  of  his  signal  services.  After  the  war  he  went 
to  Missouri.    Two  years  later  he  was  assassinated  by  bushwhackers. 

Of  this  engineering  feat  Admiral  Porter  said:  "It  has  saved 
the  Union  a  fleet  worth  nearly  $2,000,000;   has  deprived  the  enemy 


270  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

of  a  triumph  which,  "would  have  emboldened  them  to  carry  on  the 
war  a  year  or  two  longer,  for  the  intended  departure  of  the  army 
was  a  fixed  fact,  and  in  case  that  event  occurred,  there  was  nothing 
left  for  me  to  do  but  destroy  every  part  of  the  vessels." 

The  ofiicial  report  to  the  secretary  of  the  navy  says  that  Col. 
Bailey's  proposition  "looked  like  madness  and  the  best  engineers 
ridiculed  it."  Had  it  not  been  that  the  gunboats  were  caught  like 
rats  in  a  trap,  doubtless  the  attempt  would  never  have  been 
made. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Wisconsin's  part  in  the  capture  of  jeff.  davis. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Wisconsin  calvarymen  to  take  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  pursuit  and  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis.  It  was  the 
second  important  event  in  the  career  of  Davis  associated  in  some 
measure  with  Wisconsin  people.  As  a  young  army  lieutenant  he 
had  been  stationed  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  where  he  wooed  and  won 
one  of  the  daughters  of  Zachary  Taylor. 

When  it  became  evident  to  the  leaders  of  the  Confederacy 
that  their  cause  was  hopelessly  lost,  Jefferson  Davis  sought  to  escape 
to  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  or  the  gulf.  It  was  suspected  by  the 
Unionists  that  he  would  make  the  attempt  alone  and  in  disguise, 
and  a  close  watch  was  kept  on  all  roads  and  ferries  in  Georgia 
to  intercept  the  fugitive.  It  was  believed  that  the  fleeing  president 
of  the  Confederacy  had  a  large  amount  of  gold  with  him,  and  this 
circumstance  made  the  hunters  keen  in  pursuit  of  their  prey.  Flar- 
ing handbills  offering  a  reward  of  $100,000  for  the  capture  of  the 
rebel  chief  were  scattered  broadcast,  in  the  hope  of  tempting  even 
the  Southerners  to  join  in  the  pursuit. 

How  Wisconsin  soldiers  came  to  be  specially  chosen  to  under- 
take the  capture  of  Davis  is  thus  related  by  Gen.  Wilson,  com- 
mander of  the  calvary  corps:  "On  the  afternoon  of  May  6,  I  sent 
for  Gen.  Croxton,  commanding  the  First  (McCook's)  division,  and 
directed  him  to  select  the  best  regiment  in  his  division,  and  send 
it  forthwith,  under  its  best  officer,  eastward  by  the  little  town  of 
Jefferson  to  Dublin  on  the  Oconee  river,  with  orders  to  march  with 
the  greatest  possible  speed,  scouting  the  counti*y  well  to  the  north- 
ward of  his  route,  leaving  detachments  at  all  important  cross  roads 
and  keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  all  rebel  parties,  whether  large  or 
small,  that  might  be  passing  through  that  region.  It  was  hoped 
by  these  means  that  the  route  pursued  by  Davis  might  be  inter- 
sected and  his  movements  discovered,  in  which  event  the  command- 
ing officer  was  instructed  to  follow  wherever  it  might  lead,  until 
the  fugitive  should  be  overtaken  and  captured." 

For  this  important  mission.  Gen.  Croxton  selected  the  First 
Wisconsin  cavalry.  "They  were  commanded,"  says  Gen.  Wilson's 
account,  "by  Lieut.-Col.  Henry  Harnden,  an  officer  of  age,  experience 
and  unconquerable  resolution,  who  reported  to  me  after  his  regi- 
ment was  on  the  march,  and  whom  I  notified  that  Davis  was  known 
to  have  an  escort  variously  estimated  at  from  ten  to  fifty  men,  all 
fully  armed  and  determined  to  die  in  the  last  ditch,  if  need  be, 
in  his  defense.  The  sturdy  old  general  understood  fully  what  he 
might  encounter  and  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  assured  me 

271 


272 


Leading  Events  of  Wiscondn  History. 


as  he  galloped  away  that  he  would  give  a  satisfactory  account  of 
himself  and  command  if  he  should  have  the  good  fortune  to  find 
the  party  he  was  sent  after.  He  had  selected  150  of  his  best  men 
and  stoutest  horses,  and,  marching  all  night,  he  reached  Dublin 
the  next  evening  at  7  o'clock,  having  left  an  officer  and  thirty  men 
at  Jeffersonville  with  orders  to  send  out  scouts  in  all  directions. 
During  his  march  he  had  kept  scouting  parties  well  out  on  both 
sides  of  his  column  in  hopes  of  finding  the  trail  of  the  party  for 
whom  he  was  searching,  but  nothing  of  importance  occurred  till 
after  he  had  bivouacked  for  the  night." 


Jefferson  '  Davis  as  a  Young  Man  in  Wisconsin. 
(One  of  the  earliest  lumbermen  in  the  Chippewa  valley  was  Jefferson  Davis. 
As  a  young  man  he  was  stationed  at  the  Prairie  du  Chien  fort,  and  he  was  sent 
to  the  Chippewa  valley  to  get  out  lumber  for  some  of  the  fort  buildings.  Zach- 
ary  Taylor  was  liis  commander.  The  story  has  been  often  repeated  that  young 
Davis  eloped  with  one  of  Rough  and  Ready's  daughters  while  he  was  a  lieuten- 
ant under  Taylor  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  but  later  in  life  Davis  denied  the  truth 
of  the  story.  In  his  autobiography  he  says:  "I  resigned  from  the  army  in  1835, 
being  anxious  to  fulfill  a  long  existing  engagement  with  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
Zachary  Taylor,  whom  I  married,  not  'after  a  romantic  elopement,'  as  has  so 
often  been  said,  but  at  the  house  of  her  aunt  and  in  the  presence  of  many  of  her 
relatives,  at  a  place  near  Louisville,  Ky.") 


Such  was  the  behavior  of  the  people  of  Dublin  that  Col. 
Harnden's  suspicions  were  aroused.  He  declined  all  their  offers  of 
hospitality,  and  determined  to  keep  a  strict  watch  for  developments. 
It  was  evident  from  the  commotion  among  the  colored  people  and 
the  profuse  friendship  of  the  whites  that  the  latter  were  anxious 
to  distract  his  attention  from  something  of  unusual  import. 

An  important  clue  came  to  Col.  Harnden  about  midnight.  A 
darkey  crept  into  his  tent  and  requested  an  interview.     From  him 


The  Story  of  the  State.  273 


the  calvaryman  learned  that  during  the  day  a  mysterious  party  of 
naen,  women  and  children  had  been  ferried  across  the  river.  The 
negro  had  heard  one  of  the  women  addressed  as  "Mrs.  Davis," 
and  one  of  the  men  as  "President."  The  story  of  the  negro  was  so 
circiunstantial  that  Col.  Harnden  was  convinced  of  its  truth, 
although  a  rigid  cross-examination  of  the  white  ferryman  failed  to 
add  to  the  stock  of  information.  Another  negro  was  found  whose 
testimony  in  part  confirmed  that  of  the  first,  and  Col.  Harnden  pre- 
pared to  start  in  hot  pursuit. 

By  2  o'clock  in  the  morning  seventy  well  mounted  calvarymen 
were  riding  along  the  forest  path  known  as  "the  river  road,"  which 
the  negro  informant  had  designated  as  the  route  pursued  by  the 
fugitives  seventeen  hours  before.  By  way  of  precaution.  Col. 
Harnden  detailed  sixty  men  to  scout  towards  the  seacoast,  while 
hfe  went  south  with  his  men.  A  courier  was  at  the  same  time  dis- 
patched to  Gen.  Croxton  with  a  message  advising  the  commander 
of  the  latest  developments  and  plan  of  operation.  This  messenger 
fared  ill.  Losing  his  way  in  the  tangled  forest,  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  robbers  and  when  he  reached  Macon  the  news  that  Davis 
had  been  captured  had  preceded  him. 

It  was  a  dark  night  when  Col.  Harnden's  Wisconsin  riders 
started  in  pursuit,  and  they  experienced  some  difficulty  in  finding 
the  right  road.  The  country  was  sparsely  settled,  and  the  road 
was  not  well  defined,  while  in  places  creeks  and  swamps  almost 
obliterated  it.  During  the  forenoon  rain  began  to  fall  and  made 
the  trail  still  more  uncertain.  In  this  emergency,  the  troopers 
impressed  a  number  of  Georgia  crackers  into  service  as  guides, 
and  before  they  camped,  the  drenched  and  weary  men  had  covered 
a  distance  of  forty  miles. 

By  3  o'clock  the  following  morning  the  pursuers  were  again 
in  the  saddle,  crossing  creeks  and  swamps  and  passing  through 
thick  forests.  When  they  reached  the  Ocmulgee  river  they  were 
but  three  hours  behind  the  fugitives.  Impatient  as  they  were  to 
seize  their  prey,  they  could  not  go  on  for  two  hours  on  account 
of  the  leaky  condition  of  the  old  scow  that  served  as  a  ferry. 
The  crossing  was  tediously  slow,  but  the  condition  of  the  river 
made  fording  an  impossibility,  and  it  was  dangerous  to  swim  the 
horses  across.  At  this  ferry  they  learned  such  facts  as  to  remove 
all  doubts  that  the  fleeing  chief  of  the  lost  cause  was  in  the 
party  ahead. 

A  mile  and  a  half  below  the  ferry  was  located  a  little  cluster 
of  houses,  and  here  Col.  Harnden's  men  halted  to  feed  their  horses. 
Much  to  their  surprise,  the  advance  guard  of  the  Fourth  Michigan 
Cavalry,  under  Col.  Pritcfiard,  came  jogging  along  just  as  the  First 
Wisconsin  men  were  about  to  resume  their  march.  The  Michigan 
men  had  been  sent  on  the  same  errand  as  the  Wisconsin  regiment. 


274 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


and  thus  they  had  come  upon  each  other.  Col.  Hamden  informed 
Col.  Pritchard  that  he  had  been  following  the  Davis  party  for  two 
days  and  claimed  first  right  to  the  road.  The  justice  of  the  claim 
was  admitted  by  Col.  Pritchard,  whose  information  of  Davis' 
whereabouts  came  from  Col.  Harnden,  and  he  offered  the  latter 
the  assistance  of  part  of  his  regiment.  This  offer  was  declined. 
The  Wisconsin  men  thereupon  took  up  the  trail,  going  towards 
Irwinville. 


$100,00 


{)\w  Hiiftilii'd  Thoiwand^lloll^  Reward 

in  Cold,  will  "tie  paid  to  an^  person  oi  peisoi\s'»vho  wii 
preher.d  and  deliver  JEfFERS'r»H  D.-iVIS  lo  wiy  of  ih«r  M, 
itary  awlhorifi^'s  of  the  Uniled  Sfetes'  ^        %^ 


Copt  of  a  Handbil,l,  Picked  Up  in  Georgia  After  the  War. 
From  a  Reduced  Facsimile  in  The  Century. 


Learning  that  by  making  a  detour  he  could  find  another  road 
leading  to  Irwinville,  Col.  Pritchard  determined  to  take  it.  So 
expeditious  were  the  movements  of  the  Michigan  men  that  they 
reached  the  Davis  camp  about  the  same  time  that  the  Wisconsin 
men  hove  in  sight  from  another  direction.  Each  regiment  mistook 
the  other  for  the  rebel  escort  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  sharp  firing 
ensued.  Before  the  discovery  was  made  that  Wisconsin  and  Michi- 
gan soldiers  were  firing  upon  each  other,  two  of  the  latter  were 
killed,  and  three  men  of  the  First  Wisconsin  severely  wounded. 
A  number  of  others  received  slight  wounds,  including  an  ofiicer 
of  the  Fourth  Michigan. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  275 


Luck  was  with  the  Michigan  men  in  apprehending  Davis.  They 
first  reached  the  tents  where  the  party  was  encamped  and  sur- 
rounded them.  After  the  unfortunate  firing,  a  woman  came  to 
the  door  of  the  largest  tent  and  asked  if  her  servant  would  be 
allowed  to  go  for  water.  The  rest  of  the  story  is  thus  told  by  an 
eye-witness,  William  P.  Stedman,  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Michi- 
gan: "Consent  was  given,  when  out  came  a  tall  person,  with  a 
lady's  waterproof  overdress  on  and  a  small  brown  shawl  on  the 
head,  a  tin  pail  on  the  right  arm  and  a  colored  woman  leaning  on 
the  left  arm.  This  tall  person  was  stooping  over  as  if  to  appear 
shorter;  I  at  once  concluded  that  it  must  be  Davis  in  disguise. 
They  started  off  east  towards  the  creek,  where  the  brush  was  very 
thick.  As  they  were  going  they  had  to  pass  several  soldiers  who 
were  straggling  round  the  camp.  I  sat  still  on  my  horse,  expecting 
that  some  of  the  soldires  would  halt  them  as  they  passed  by; 
but  such  was  not  the  case,  for  they  passed  all  of  the  soldiers 
without  being  noticed.  Then  I  galloped  my  horse  around  the  north 
side  of  the  tent  and,  passing  to  their  left,  halted  them.  Just  at 
this  time  there  came  riding  up  to  us  two  of  our  soldiers.  They  made 
a  few  remarks  to  the  tall  person.  He  turned  his  face  a  little 
towards  me,  and  I  saw  his  gray  moustache.  We  told  him  his 
disguise  would  not  succeed.  Then  Davis  and  the  colored  woman 
started  back  towards  the  tents.  As  Davis  had  got  about  half  way 
back  to  the  tent,  we  were  met  by  some  of  our  men,  who  had  just 
discovered  that  Jefferson  Davis  had  tried  to  escape  in  disguise." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ESCAPE   OF   WISCONSIN   OFFICERS   FROM    LIBBEY   PRISON. 

Five  Milwaukee  officers  crept  through  the  famous  tunnel  of 
Libbey  prison,  whence  109  Union  prisoners  escaped  during  the 
night  of  Feb.  9,  1864.  Of  these,  Gen.  Harrison  C.  Hobart,  Gen. 
T.  S.  West  and  Adjt.  Albert  Wallber,  with  fifty-four  others,  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  Union  lines  after  a  series  of  remarkable 
adventures.  Gen.  Hobart  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  enterprise, 
and  was  the  man  upon  whom  devolved  the  duty  of  closing  the 
tunnel  after  the  passage  of  the  last  man  of  the  original  party  in 
the  secret.  This,  in  abridged  form,  and  nearly  in  his  own  words, 
is  the  story  of  the  escape  as  told  by  Gen.  Hobart  to  his  comrades 
of   the  Wisconsin   Loyal   Legion: 

"On  the  ground  floor  of  the  building,  on  a  level  with  the  street, 
was  a  kitchen  containing  a  fireplace,  at  a  stove  connected  with 
which  the  prisoners  inhabiting  the  rooms  above  did  their  cooking. 
Beneath  this  fioor  was  a  basement,  one  of  the  rooms  in  which  was 
used  as  a  storeroom.  This  storeroom  was  under  the  hospital  and 
next  to  the  street,  and  though  not  directly  under  the  kitchen, 
was  so  located  that  it  was  possible  to  reach  it  by  digging  down- 
ward and  rearward  through  the  masonry  work  of  the  chimney. 
From  this  basement  room  it  was  proposed  to  construct  a  tunnel 
under  the  street  to  a  point  beneath  a  shed,  connected  with  a  brick 
block  on  the  opposite  side,  and  from  this  place  to  pass  into  the 
street  in  the  guise  of  citizens.  A  knowledge  of  this  plan  was 
confided  to  about  twenty-five,  and  nothing  was  known  of  the 
proceedings  by  the  others  until  two  or  three  days  before  the 
escape.  A  table  knife,  chisel  and  spittoon  were  secured  for  working 
tools,  when   operations   commenced." 

Upon  completion  of  the  tunnel,  which  was  barely  large  enough 
to  enable  a  full-grown  person  to  crawl  through,  the  company  was 
organized  and  placed  under  Gen.  Hobart's  charge.  In  order  to 
distract  the  attention  of  the  guard,  a  dancing  party  with  music  was 
extemporized.  As  the  first  man  emerged  upon  the  street  and 
walked  away,  seen  by  hundreds  of  his  fellows,  wild  excitement 
was  created,  and  they  rushed  down  to  the  chimney  and  clamored 
for  the  privilege  of  going  out.  They  would  listen  to  no  denial, 
and  Gen.  Hobart  then  held  a  parley  and  arranged  that  the  rope 
by  which  the  descent  was  made  to  the  basement,  after  the  last  of 
the  original  party  had  passed  out,  should  be  pulled  up  for  the 
space  of  one  hour — ithen  it  should  be  free  to  all  in  the  prison. 

Gen.  Hobart  had  joined  forces  with  Col.  T.  S.  West,  and  they 
were  the  last  of  the  party  who  crawled  through.    About  9  o'clock  in 

276 


Tlic  Story  of  the  State. 


277 


the  evening  they  emerged  from  the  tunnel,  and  cautiously  crossing 
an  open  yard  to  an  arched  driveway,  stepped  out  upon  the  street 
and  walked  slowly  away,  apparently  engaged  in  earnest  conversa- 
tion. They  passed  through  one  of  the  main  streets  of  Richmond, 
Gen.  Hobart  simulating  a  decrepit  old  man  in  exceedingly  ill  health 
and  badly  affected  with  a  consumptive  cough.  Squads  of  soldiers 
whom  they  met  sympathetically  got  out  of  the  way  of  the  supposed 
old  man,  who  was  clinging  to  the  arm  of  his  companion.  Thus 
they  i-eached  the  suburbs  of  the  town  and  made  for  the  country. 

While  concealed  in  a  ravine,  a  bloodhound  appeared,  but  did 
not  cross  a  brook  over  which  the  two  fugitives  had  jumped.  They 
spent  the  night  in  a  haystack  and  in  the  morning  pursued  their 


Gen.   Harrison  C.   Hobart. 
From    a    War-time    Photograph. 


way.  By  means  of  a  long  pole  which  reached  the  opposite  shore 
of  the  Chickahominy  river  from  the  limb  of  a  tree  which  they 
had  climbed,  they  managed  to  get  across  that  stream.  In  a  neigh- 
boring forest  they  were  alarmed  to  catch  sight  of  a  man  watching 
them  from  behind  a  fallen  trefe.  They  supposed  tliey  had  fallen 
into  an  ambush,  but  the  man  proved  to  be  an  escaped  prisoner. 
By  this  time  the  escape  was  known  and  the  country  was  alive 
"With  pursuers.  They  could  distinctly  hear  the  reveille  of  the  rebel 
troops  and  the  hum  of  their  camps. 

Frequently  the  runaways  ran  almost  into  the  arms  of  the 
enemy.  Once  Col.  West  saw  a  sentinel  sitting  close  by  a  railroad 
track,  asleep,  with  his  gun  resting  against  his  shoulder.  They 
traveled  all  night  to  get  away  fi'om  the  dangerous  proximity,  and 
when  dawn  came  heard  the  bugle  notes  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  in 


278  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

the  pines  close  by.  Without  loss  of  time,  they  again  fled  as  fast 
as  they  could  go,  momentarily  expecting  to  hear  the  crack  of  rifle 
or  the  sharp  command  to  halt.  In  the  center  of  a  dense  chapparal 
they  threw  themselves  upon  the  ground  in  utter  exhaustion. 

In  the  shadow  of  friendly  darkness  the  fugitives — weary, 
hungry  and  footsore  and  guided  in  their  course  by  the  north  star — 
made  their  toilsome  way  from  wood  to  wood,  sometimes  almost 
running  into  the  arms  of  their  foes.  A  plantation  darkey  helped 
to  extricate  them  from  their  perilous  position.  Gen.  Hobart  had 
gone  to  the  negro's  cabin,  while  his  companions  remained  in  con- 
cealment.    He  rapped  and  entered,  and  the  negro  said: 

"I  know  who  you  are;  you're  one  of  dem  'scaped  oflicers  from 
Richmond." 

Looking  him  full  in  the  face  and  placing  a  hand  to  his  shoulder. 
Gen.  Hobart  said:   "I  am,  and  I  know  you  are  my  friend." 

The  darkey's  eyes  sparkled  as  he  repeated:  "Yes,  sir;  yes,  sir; 
but  you  mustn't  stay  here;  a  reg'ment  of  cavalry  is  right  dar," 
pointing  to  a  place  near  by,  "and  they  pass  dis  here  road  all 
times  of  the  night." 

Refreshed  with  a  glass  of  milk  and  some  corn  bread,  the  weary 
fugitives  were  conducted  to  a  secluded  spot  in  a  cane  brake.  The 
darkey  explained  that  the  rebel  picket  was  posted  on  a  narrow 
neck  of  land  between  two  impassable  swamps,  and  over  this  neck 
ran  the  main  road  to  Williamsburg.  The  negro  agreed  to  guide 
them  through  a  long  cane-break  path  around  the  picket — a  most 
risky  undertaking,  for  they  had  to  pass  between  the  cavalry  reserve 
and  their  videttes,  who  were  sitting  upon  their  horses  but  a 
few  rods  in  front.  He  then  took  them  around  to  the  pike,  about 
a  mile  beyond  this  last  post  of  the  rebels. 

Gen.  Hobart  and  his  companions  had  escaped  Tuesday  night. 
Early  Sunday  morning  they  were  on  the  bank  of  the  Diascum 
river,  but  found  themselves  unable  to  cross,  though  they  managed 
to  reach  an  island  in  the  river.  An  attempt  to  construct  a  raft 
proved  unsuccessful.  The  water  was  cold,  and  the  men  were  too 
weary  to  attempt  swimming  across.  At  this  juncture  a  young  rebel 
rowed  a  boat  up-stream  and  they  lured  him  to  the  island.  They 
pretended  they  were  farmers  from  different  localities  on  the  Chick- 
ahominy  and  induced  him  to  row  them  across  the  river.  He 
seemed  suspicious,  however,  and  recrossed  the  river  in  great 
haste.  Anticipating  that  the  enemy's  cavalry  would  soon  be  in 
hot  pursuit,  they  decided  to  hide  near  the  river  bank. 

"The  wisdom  of  this  course  was  soon  demonstrated,"  said  Gen. 
Hobart  in  narrating  the  story.  "The  cavalry  crossed  the  stream, 
dashed  by  us  and  thoroughly  searched  the  country  in  front,  not 
dreaming  but  we  had  gone  forward.  We  did  not  leave  our  seclusion 
until   about   midnight,   and   then   felt   our  way  with   extreme  care. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  279 

The  proximity  of  Williamsburg  was  evident  from  the  destruction 
everywhere  apparent  in  our  path.  There  were  no  buildings,  no 
inhabitants  and  no  sound  save  our  own  weary  footsteps;  desolation 
reigned  supreme.  Stacks  of  chimneys  stood  along  our  way  like 
sentinels  over  the  dead  land." 

This  is  how  Gen.  Hobart  and  his  companions  finally  came 
among  friends.  "For  five  days  and  six  nights,  hunted  and  almost 
exhausted,  we  had  picked  our  way  through  surrounding  perils 
toward  the  camp  fires  of  our  friends.  We  knew  we  were  near  the 
outpost  of  the  Union  troops  and  began  to  feel  as  if  our  trials  were 
nearly  over.  But  we  were  now  in  danger  of  being  shot  as  rebels 
by  scouting  parties  of  our  own  army.  To  avoid  the  appearance  of 
spies  we  took  the  open  road,  alternately  traveling  and  concealing 
ourselves  that  we  might  reconnoitre  the  way.  About  2  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  coming  near  the  shade  of  a  dark  forest  that  overhung 
the  road,  we  were  startled  and  brought  to  a  stand  by  the  sharp 
and  sudden  command:  'Halt!'  Looking  in  the  direction  whence  it 
proceeded,  we  discovered  the  dark  forms  of  a  dozen  cavalrymen 
drawn  up  in  line  across  the  road. 

"A  voice  came  out  of  the  darkness,  asking:  'Who  are  you?' 
We  replied:  'We  are  travelers.'  The  same  voice  replied:  'If  you 
are  travelers,  come  up  here!' 

"Moving  forward,  the  cavalry  surroundded  us,  and  carefully 
looking  at  their  coats,  I  concluded  they  were  gray,  and  nerved 
myself  for  a  recapture.  It  was  a  supreme  moment  to  the  soul. 
One  of  my  companions  asked:  'Are  you  Union  soldiers?'  In  broad 
Pennsylvania  language  the  answer  came:  'Well,  we  are.'  In  a 
moment  their  uniforms  changed  to  a  glorious  blue,  and  taking  off 
our  hats,  we  gave  one  long,  exultant  shout." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AFTER    THE    WAR EVENTS    OF    THREE    DECADES. 

From  the  arts  of  war  to  tne  pursuits  of  peace  seemed  a  long 
step,  yet  to  the  people  of  Wisconsin  the  transition  was  brief.  On 
the  28th  day  of  May,  1866,  the  Fourth  Wisconsin  Regiment  of 
cavalry  w^as  mustered  out  after  service  of  five  years  and  a  day — 
the  longest  term  on  record  credited  to  a  volunteer  organization. 
Those  of  the  soldier  boys  who  came  home  resumed  their  avocations 
or  drifted  Into  others,  and  began  where  they  had  left  off  in  the 
development  of  the  commonwealth.  The  history  of  Wisconsin 
became  akin  to  that  of  its  neighboring  states^ — the  alarum  of  war 
was  succeeded  by  the  hum  of  industry.  Prosperity  and  plenty 
smiled  upon  the  people.  Forests  were  leveled  ana  cities  were 
built;  steel  ribbons  lengthened  in  radiating  bars  from  the  common 
center — the  state's  metropolis;  river  falls  and  rapids  were  harnessed 
to  machinery  to  supply  the  power  for  a  thousand  wheels;  out  of 
the  earth  were  dug  the  ores  most  useful  to  commerce.  Soon  the 
industries  of  the  commonwealth  became  diversified  and  were 
distributed  among  the  world's  three  great  sources  of  wealth  and 
prosperity — agriculture,  mining  and  manufacture. 

Thus  has  Wisconsin  progressed  for  three  decades.  It  would  be 
indeed  strange  if  during  this  period  of  half  an  ordinary  life-time 
there  had  been  no  vicissitudes— internal  troubles,  political  dissen- 
sions, disaster  from  vioience  of  the  elements,  financial  panics  from, 
causes  common  to  the  people  of  the  whole  country.  These  there 
have  been,  and  they  have  had  their  temporary  effect  in  retarding  the 
progress  of  the  state.  If  some  of  these  unpleasanx  episodes  are 
given  more  in  detail  than  the  more  important  counter  infiuences, 
it  is  because  the  narration  of  circumstances  promoting  the  welfare 
of  the  state  would  prove  a  mere  repetition.  It  is  the  exceptional 
circumstance  that  appears   in  boldest  relief. 

For  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  the  state,  a  member  of 
the  United  States  senate  was,  in  1866,  requested  by  the  legislature 
to  resign  his  seat  as  Wisconsin's  representative.  Tiie  first  senator 
from  the  state,  Isaac  P.  Walker,  had  given  umbrage  by  his  vote 
not  to  exclude  slavery  from  California.  In  the  case  of  Senator 
James  R.  Doolittle,  the  cause  of  displeasure  among  his  constituents 
was  his  course,  during  the  bitter  days  of  reconstruction,  in  standing 
by  President  Andrew  Johnson.  When  the  president's  long  quarrel 
with  congress  culminated  in  impeachment  proceedings,  but  one 
more  vote  in  the  senate  would  have  given  the  required  two-thirds 
for  the  impeachment  of  President  Johnson.  Had  Senator  Doolittle 
voted  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  the  people  whom  he  repre- 

280 


The  Story  of  the  State.  281 


sented,  Andrew  Johnson  would  have  been  ousted  from  the  presi- 
dency. Doolittle  voted  no.  Two  years  previously  the  legislature 
of  Wisconsin  had  adopted  resolutions  instructing  him  to  resign 
the  senatorial  office.  To  this  demand  Senator  Doolittle  paid  no 
attention;  his  term  expired  in  1870,  and  he  was  then  replaced  by 
Matthew  Hale  Carpenter.  Senator  Doolittle  had  served  twelve 
years  in  the  United  States  senate,  during  the  most  momentous 
period  since  the  founding  of  the  republic:  "Before  the  war,  when 
the  question  was  the  extension  of  slavery;  during  the  war,  the 
epoch  of  secession;  after  the  war,  when  the  issue  was  recon- 
struction." 

Senator  Doolittle's  attitude  during  the  reconstruction  days  was 
the  more  irritating  to  his  constituency  in  that  he  had  been  an  able 
champion  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  course.  It  was  Senator 
Doolittle's  ringing  epigram  that,  delivered  in  the  hearing  of  a  vast 
assemblage,  had  provoked  thunders  of  applause  that  frightened 
the  conspirators  intent  upon  defeating  Lincoln: 

"Fellow  citizens,"  were  his  words,  "I  believe  in  God  Almighty, 
and  under  Him  I  believe  in  Abraham  Lincoln." 

The  Fifteenth  amendment  was  ratified  by  Wisconsin  March 
9,  1869.  Ever  since  the  first  Constitutional  Convention,  in  1846, 
the  question  of  negro  sul^rage  had  periodically  been  raised  to  vex 
the  people.  By  decisive  votes  the  proposition  had  several  times 
been  snowed  under.  At  the  same  time  that  the  voters  rejected 
the  first  state  constitution  submitted  to  them,  they  declined  to 
grant  colored  men  the  right  of  suffrage,  the  vote  standing  7,564 
for  and  14,615  against.  The  heavy  adverse  vote  was  due  to  the  large 
element  of  Southerners  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  state; 
here  negro  slaves  had  been  held  by  men  of  influence,  including  the 
first  governor  of  the  territory.  In  the  localities  largely  settled  by 
Germans  the  vote  against  negro  suffrage  vv^as  also  heavy,  the 
antagonism  of  the  Germans  having  been  aroused  by  an  unfortunate 
"attempt  made  in  the  convention  of  1846  to  couple  the  vote  on 
foreign  suffrage  with  that  on  negro  suffrage." 

In  the  second  Constitutional  Convention  the  section  on  suffrage 
was  restricted  to  white  voters,  by  a  majority  of  one.  Such  was 
the  growth  of  the  Free  Soil  movement  that  but  a  twelvemonth 
thereafter  the  legislature  submitted  the  question  of  granting  suf- 
frage to  persons  of  African  blood  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  About 
30,000  votes  were  cast  for  state  ofiicers  at  this  election,  but  less  than 
10,000  voters  expressed  themselves  on  the  suffrage  question.  Thus, 
while  5,265  voters  were  in  favor  of  the  law,  as  against  4,075  in  oppo- 
sition, it  was  assumed  that  every  blank  vote  was  a  negative  one 
and  that  the  amendment  was  defeated.  For  seventeen  years  this 
assumption  was  tacitly  held  to  be  correct,  when  the  refusal  of 
election    officers    in    Milwaukee    to   accept    the    proffered    ballot   of 


282  Leading  Events  of  Wiscoimn  History. 

Ezekiel  Gillespie,  a  colored  man,  led  to  a  Supreme  court  decision 
that  the  amendment  voted  on  in  1849  had  undoubtedly  carried 
and  must  be  accepted  as  law. 

Thus  Wisconsin,  in  the  van  of  nearly  all  the  other  states,  had 
given  to  colored  men  within  its  borders  the  right  to  vote.  In  the 
meantime,  unconscious  that  universal  suffrage  was  their  law,  the 
people  of  the  state  twice  rejected  a  proposition  to  allow  colored 
men  to  vote — in  1857,  when  the  adverse  majority  was  12,000  out  of 
a  total  vote  of  60,000;  and  again  in  1865,  when  100,555  voters 
expressed  themselves,  and  the  opponents  of  negro  suffrage  had 
8,059  majority. 

Many  stumbling  blocks  were  encountered  by  women  in  their 
efforts  to  secure  legal  recognition  in  this  state.  It  was  not  until 
1877  that  the  legislature  passed  a  law  permitting  members  of  their 
sex  to  practice  law.  The  year  before  that  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  state  rejected  the  application  of  Miss  Lavinia  Goodell  for  admis- 
sion to  the  bar.  E.  G.  Ryan  was  chief  justice  of  the  state  at  the  time. 

"We  cannot  but  think  the  common  law  wise  in  excluding 
women  from  the  profession  of  the  law,"  said  the  eminent  jurist 
in  the  decree  of  refusal.  "The  profession  enters  largely  into  the 
well-being  of  society,  and,  to  be  honorably  filled,  and  safely  to 
society,  exacts  the  devotion  of  life.  The  law  of  nature  destines  and 
qualifies  the  female  sex  for  the  bearing  and  nurture  of  children  of 
our  race,  and  for  the  custody  of  the  homes  of  the  world  and  their 
maintenance  in  love  and  honor.  And  all  life-long  callings  of 
women  inconsistent  with  the  order  of  nature,  and  when  voluntary, 
are   treason   against   it." 

A  lobby  of  women  convinced  the  next  legislature  that  the  views 
entertained  by  the  chief  justice  were  not  founded  on  the  rights 
of  womankind,  and  a  law  was  passed  permitting  women  to  practice 
law.  Many  Wisconsin  women  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
right  thus  obtained. 

In  1871,  by  legislative  enactment,  a  college  for  women  was 
added  to  the  State  University. 

Several  unsuccessful  attempts  have  been  made  to  obtain  from 
the  legislature  an  order  for  the  submission  of  a  woman  suffrage 
amendment  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  Successive  agitations  have 
finally  placed  on  the  statute  books  a  law  permitting  women  to  vote 
in  school  elections.  In  recent  years  a  number  of  women  have  been 
chosen  to  serve  as  county  superintendents  of  schools. 

Except  as  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  the  laws  of  Wisconsin  do  not 
discriminate  against  women,  and  the  laws  giving  them  property 
rights  and  rights  as  married  women  are  regarded  as  in  every  way 
liberal.  This  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the  sentiments  entertained 
fifty  years  ago,  when  one  of  five  obnoxious  articles  that  led  to  the 
rejection  of  the  first  constitution  was  that  relating  to  the  rights 
of  married  women. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  283 


It  was  an  evidence  of  the  marvelous  development  of  the  state's 
great  resources  that  but  fifteen  years  after  Wisconsin  became  a 
state  there  were  142  residents  whose  personal  incomes  exceeded 
$5,000  per  annum  each.  From  1863  till  1872  the  federal  government 
exacted  an  income  tax.  A  tax  of  5  per  cent,  -v^^as  levied  on  all 
incomes  from  $600  to  $5,000,  7  per  cent,  on  incomes  from  $5,000 
to  $10,000,  and  10  per  cent,  on  incomes  in  excess  of  $10,000. 
Nineteen  firms,  according  to  sworn  statements,  did  a  business  of 
more  than  half  a  million  dollars  annually,  six  others  of  more  than 
a  million  dollars  and  three  of  two  million  dollars.  In  Miwaukee 
alone  the  tax  upon  all  incomes  in  excess  of  $5,000  netted  the  gov- 
ernment $163,676.  Some  of  the  incomes,  as  the  amounts  were 
given  under  oath  to  the  assessors,  were  evidence  of  the  surprisingly 
large  profits  derived  by  business  men  during  the  war  period  and  the 
years  immediately  following.  Some  of  the  larger  ones  ai'e 
here  given: 

Milwaukee— Alexander  Mitchell,  $132,000;  L.  H.  Kellogg, 
$71,000;  P.  D.  Armour,  $50,000;  B.  P.  Allis,  $26,000;  N.  Bngelmann, 
$30,000;  M.  D.  Medberry,  $36,000;  John  Nazro,  $31,000;  Guido 
Pfister,  $34,000;  Daniel  Wells,  Jr.,  $33,000;  Fred  Vogel,  $34,000; 
Mark  S.  Tyson,  $30,000;  John  Plankinton,  $50,000;  Rufus  Allen, 
$21,000;  Val.  Blatz,  $22,000;  A.  Green,  $21,000;  J.  J.  Higby,  $20,000; 
G.  G.  Houghton,  $22,000;  R.  P.  Houghton,  $22,000;  Harrison  Luding- 
ton,  $22,000;  James  Ludington,  $50,000;  C.  T.  Bradley,  $29,000;  Jr.  B. 
Martin,  $33,000;  W.  H.  Metcalf,  $21,000. 

These  were  the  incomes  of  $20,000  or  more.  But  one  brewer 
appears  in  the  list.  Elsewhere  in  the  state  the  incomes  were 
smaller,  those  reported  at  $10,000  or  more  being  as  follows: 

Kenosha— A.  D.  Loomis,  $11,000;    G.  Truesdell,  $10,000. 

Racine— Jerome  I.  Case,  $10,000;  James  H.  Kelley,  $10,000; 
Fred  Weage,  $17,000. 

Walworth— George  Esterly,  $40,000. 

Waukesha— Curtis  Mann,  $22,000. 

Notwithstanding  the  large  individual  incomes  derived  during 
the  flush  days  of  the  period  mentioned,  it  is  doubtful  if  at  that 
time  there  was  a  millionaire  resident  in  Wisconsin.  There  are 
to-day  forty  or  more  men  in  the  state  who  are  counted  owners  of 
property  worth  a  million  dollars  or  more.  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
that  in  every  case  the  money  has  been  made  in  Wisconsin,  and 
that  the  men  who  amassed  these  fortunes,  with  few  exceptions,  came 
to  the  state  without  means. 

Immediately  after  the  war  railroad  extension  was  carried  on 
in  the  state  at  a  remarkable  rate.  The  attitute  of  the  railroad 
magnates  toward  the  people  grew  so  arrogant  that  in  a  message  to 
the  legislature  Gov.  Cadwallader  C.  Washburn  declared  with 
emphasis  that  "many  vast  and  overshadowing  corporations  in  the 


284  Leading  Etients  of  Wisconsin  History. 

United  States  are  justly  a  source  of  alarm,  and  the  legislature 
cannot  scan  too  closely  every  measure  that  comes  before  it  whinh 
proposes  to  give  additional  rights  and  privileges  to  the  railways 
of  the  state."  He  further  recommended  that  "the  granting  of 
passes  to  the  class  of  state  officials  w^ho,  through  their  public 
office,  have  power  to  confer  or  withhold  benefits  to  a  railroad  com- 
pany,  be    prohibited." 

By  failing  to  heed  the  warning  thus  given  by  the  governor, 
the  Republicans  were  swept  from  power  at  the  next  election  by  a 
combination  of  "Democrats,  Liberal  Republicans  and  other  electors 
of  Wisconsin  friendly  to  genuine  reform."  One  of  the  planks  of 
the  platform  was  a  promise  to  "protect  the  people  against  every 
form  of  monopoly  or  extortion." 

The  farmers  considered  themselves  aggrieved  by  discrimina- 
tions in  railroad  charges.  The  hard  times  of  1873-74  were  popu- 
larly accredited  to  the  dominant  party.  AVilliam  R.  Taylor,  a 
Democrat,  was  elected  governor.  The  pendulum  of  politics  made 
the  sweep  to  the  other  end  of  the  arc,  and  the  passage  of  the 
famous  "Potter  law"  followed  at  the  next  legislative  session.  This 
was  a  drastic  measure,  limiting  transportation  charges  and  regu- 
lating prices  for  freight,  creating  a  railroad  commission  and  making 
stringent  provision  for  general  regulation  of  railroad  traffic.  The 
roalroad  officials  openly  defied  the  provisions  of  the  law,  and  the 
presidents  of  the  two  leading  railroad  corporations  of  the  state 
served  formal  notice  on  the  governor  that  they  would  disobey  them. 

"The  law  of  the  land  must  be  respected  and  obeyed,"  Gov. 
Taylor  responded  in  a  proclamation  to  the  people,  inspired  by  the 
defiant  attitude  of  the  railroad  officials.  Long  litigation  followed. 
It  attracted  attention  all  over  the  country  on  account  of  the 
important  principles  involved — the  power  of  the  state  to  control 
corporations  of  its  own  creation.  The  railroad  companies  were 
beaten  in  the  state  and  federal  courts,  and  were  compelled  to 
acknowledge  submission.  Subsequently  the  law  was  materially 
modified. 

Not  a  drop  of  rain  fell  in  all  Northern  Wisconsin  from  the  8th 
day  of  July  till  the  9th  day  of  October  in  the  memorable  year  1871— 
the  year  of  terrible  havoc  by  forest  fires.  It  was  an  unprecedented 
drouth;  it  needed  but  a  spark  to  ignite  the  parched  earth,  and  at 
times  it  seemed  as  if  the  friction  of  the  heel  was  sufficient  to  start 
a  blaze  on  the  leaf-covered  ground  of  the  forests.  Wells  became  dry, 
swamps  disappeared,  streams  became  mere  rills  and  finally  ceased 
to  flow  altogether.  Here  and  there  fires  broke  out  and  were  pre- 
vented from  spreading,  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  All  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  neighborhoods  turned  out  to  fight  the  incipient  blazes; 
incessant  calls  at  all  times  of  day  and  nigM  soon  exhausted  their 
energies.     Haystacks  melted  away  and  fences  became  long  lines  of 


The  Story  of  the  State.  285 

ashes.  A  pall  of  smoke  overhung  the  doomed  countrJ^  In  the 
cities  of  Green  Bay,  De  Pere,  Appleton,  Oconto,  Marinette  and 
Kewaunee,  and  in  many  further  south  along  the  lake  shore,  the 
smoke  obscured  the  sight  of  buildings  a  few  hundred  feet  away, 
and  seriously  affected  the  eyes  and  lungs  of  the  people.  On  the 
lake  it  seemed  as  if  an  immense  fog  had  settled  permanently,  so 
opaque  that  the  sun  could  not  be  seen  in  the  brazen  sky.  Railroad 
travel  became  dangerous,  for  bridges  were  crumbling  and  great 
trees  that  had  been  gnawed  by  fire  fell  across  the  tracks  and  across 
highways.  Trains  at  times  were  prevented  from  taking  fire  by  run- 
ning them  at  an  increased  speed.  Finally  the  fires  made  such 
headway  as  to  create  consternation  and  panic  among  the  inhabitants 
of  Brown,  Door,  Oconto  and  Shawano  counties.  Many  dug  habita- 
tions in  the  ground,  covered  the  roofs  with  earth  and  sought  refuge 
in  these  burrows;  others  crept  into  the  excavations  where  a  few 
months  before  their  wells  had  been.  In  all  the  northern  towns  vol- 
unteer brigades  took  such  precautions  as  their  facilities  would  per- 
mit; in  Green  Bay  the  fire  engines  kept  their  streams  in  constant 
play  on  the  buildings. 

On  the  fateful  8th  of  October  the  smoke-laden  atmosphere  was 
so  stifling  that  breathing  became  a  painful  effort.  A  hot  southerly 
gale  carried  the  heated  air  in  fitful  blasts,  and  with  it  went  flames 
that  carried  destruction  to  the  hives  of  industries  and  prosperous 
farms  along  its  path,  and  death  to  their  people.  The  roaring  flames 
pursued  the  fleeing  men,  women  and  children,  and  their  charred 
bodies  by  the  hundreds  strewed  the  blackened  pathways.  More 
than  a  thousand  lives  were  lost  in  this  terrible  holocaust. 

While  the  doomed  city  of  Chicago  was  in  flames,  in  Northern 
Wisconsin  thousands  of  acres  were  on  fire.  It  was  a  whirlwind  of 
flame  that  human  agency  was  powerless  to  resist.  On  the  peninsula 
the  greatest  loss  of  life  and  destruction  of  property  resulted.  Hel-e, 
as  elsewhere,  were  witnessed  the  most  terrible  scenes. 

"At  Peshtigo,"  says  the  vivid  account  of  the  late  C.  D.  Robinson 
of  Green  Bay,  "hundreds  were  saved  by  throwing  themselves  into 
the  river.  In  the  Sugar  Bush  there  was  no  stream  deep  enough  for 
such  refuge.  Men,  women  and  children,  horses,  oxen,  cows,  dogs, 
swine — everything  that  had  life  v/as  seized  with  pain,  and  ran  with- 
out method  to  escape  the  impending  destruction.  The  smoke  was 
suffocating  and  blinding,  the  roar  of  the  tempest  deafening,  the 
atmosphere  scorching;  children  were  separated  from  their  parents, 
and  were  trampled  upon  by  the  crazed  beasts;  husbands  and  wives 
were  calling  wildly  for  each  other,  and  rushing  in  wild  dismay  they 
knew  not  where.  Others,  believing  the  day  of  judgment  was  surely 
come,  fell  upon  the  ground  and  abandoned  themselves  to  its  terrors. 
All  the  conditions  of  the  prophecies  seemed  to  be  fulfilled.  The  hot 
atmosphere,  filled  with  smoke,  supplied  the  'signs  in  the  sun,  and 


286  Leading  Events  of  Wiscomin  History. 

in  the  moon  and  in  the  stars';  the  sound  of  the  whirlwind  was  as 
'the  sea  and  the  waves  roaring,'  and  everywhere  there  were  'men's 
hearts  failing  them  for  fear  and  for  looking  after  those  things 
which  are  coming  on  the  earth,  for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be 
shaken.'  Of  the  village  of  Peshtigo  there  was  not  a  vestige  left 
standing  except  one  unfinished  house.  Kewaunee,  Ahnapee  and 
Sturgeon  Bay  were  sorely  pressed,  but  were  saved." 

But  for  prompt  measures  of  relief,  the  horrors  of  starvation 
would  have  equaled  those  of  the  conflagration.  From  all  parts  of 
the  country  came  substantial  contributions,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
million  dollars  of  it  in  cash.  From  every  county  and  nearly  every 
city,  village  and  neighborhood  of  Wisconsin  came  carloads  of  food 
and  clothing.  Messengers  went  afoot  through  the  burned  district, 
carrying  provisions,  and  physicians  supplied  with  medicines  and 
liniments  went  with  them. 

Other  destructive  fires  in  Wisconsin  include  the  following:  At 
Oshkosh,  April  28,  1875;  Marshfield,  June  27,  1887;  Iron  River,  July 
27,  1892;  Milwaukee,  October  30,  1891  (a  large  section  of  the  east 
side  devastated);  Fifield,  July  27,  1893;  Phillips,  July  27,  1894. 

The  most  destructive  cyclones  and  tornadoes  that  have  visited 
the  state  were  those  at  Racine,  in  1883,  which  wrecked  a  hundred 
homes,  killed  nine  persons  and  injured  seventy-five  others;  at 
Hazel  Green  twenty  years  before  that  time,  when  the  fatalities  were 
the  same,  and  at  Viroqua  in  1865.  A  summary  of  the  principal 
cyclonic  visitations  is  here  given: 

Viroqua,  June,  1865,  seventeen  persons  killed,  150  injured  and  many  build- 
ings demolished. 

Hazel  Green,  August,  1872,  nine  lives  lost  and  great  destruction  of  property 
caused  in  farming  communities. 

Green  Lake,  July,  1873,  severe  hurricane  in  Green  Lake  county;  eleven  per- 
sons drowned  in  Green  lake  by  the  capsizing  of  boats. 

La  Crosse,  July,  1875,  funnel-shaped  cyclone  600  feet  in  width. 

Pensaukee,  July,  1877,  funnel-shaped,  1,000  feet  in  width;  eight  persons 
killed  and  property  damaged  to  the  extent  of  $300,000. 

Wautoma,   July,   1877,   funnel-shaped;  very  destructive. 

Mineral  Point,  May,  1878,  inverted  cone,  width  ranging  from  700  to  10,000 
feet;  terrific  roaring  noise  and  immense  destruction  of  property. 

Beloit,  April,  1880,  several  persons  killed  and  $75,000  property  loss;  every 
church  steeple  in  the  city  hurled  to  the  ground. 

Shopiere,  April,  1880,  funnel  form,  500  to  1,000  feet  wide;  twenty-three  build- 
ings demolished. 

Monroe  county,  June,  1880,  shaped  like  an  hour-glass;  tremendous  roaring 
noise;  widespread  destruction  in  farming  districts. 

Wauwatosa,  September,  1881,  funnel-shaped,  2,000  feet  in  width;  clouds  like 
great  sheets  of  white  smoke  dashed  about  in  the  wildest  manner;  more  appalling 
to  the  sight  than  destructive  in  effects. 

Lind,  September,  1881,  funnel  form. 

Montana,  September,  1881,  1,000  to  1,500  feet  wide;  great  property  damage 
caused. 

Racine,  May,  1883,  100  houses  razed  to  the  ground;  nine  persons  killed  and 
seventy-five  injured. 


The,  Story  of  the  State.  287 


The  English  traveler  Jonathan  Carver,  who  made  his  famous 
journey  to  the  Wisconsin  region  in  1766,  describes  in  his  narrative 
the  effects  of  a  cyclone  in  the  Chippewa  river  country.  The  elements 
cut  a  path  through  the  tangled  virgin  forest  as  clean  and  well- 
defined  as  ever  did  the  axes  of  pioneers. 

The  record  of  great  disasters  would  not  be  complete  without 
mention  of  the  loss  of  life  on  the  lake.  That  which  cast  a  gloom 
over  the  people  of  the  entire  state — although  Milwaukee  families 
were  affected  principally — was  the  loss  of  the  steamer  Lady  Elgin, 
which  occurred  Sept.  8,  1860.  Of  the  400  excursionists  who  left 
Milwaukee  for  a  trip  to  Chicago,  225  found  death  in  the  waters. 
While  the  excursionists  were  gaily  dancing  or  otherwise  enjoying 
themselves,  a  fog  settled  over  the  surface  of  the  lake  and  the  Lady 
Elgin  collided  with  the  schooner  Augusta.  This  was  at  a  point 
opposite  Winnetka  Point,  several  miles  from  land.  Some  of  the 
frantic  passengers,  as  the  vessel  began  to  sink,  jumped  into  the^ 
waves  without  method  or  reason;  others  crowded  into  the  boats, 
and  in  the  confusion  swamped  them;  some  tore  away  portions  of 
the  hurricane  deck  and  a  few  floated  to  the  shore  on  these  impro- 
vised rafts.  For  many  days  following  the  disaster,  bodies  of  the 
unfortunate  passengers  were  cast  upon  the  shore.  The  statement 
has  been  made  that  there  was  scarcely  a  family  in  the  Third  ward 
of  the  city  of  Milwaukee  that  did  not  mourn  a  missing  member. 

Following  are  the  principal  disasters  since  the  war,  on  the  lake 
and  inland: 

April  8,  1868,  burning  of  the  Sea  Bird  on  Lake  Michigan;  all  of  the  passen- 
gers  and   crew   lost   but   two. 

Sept.  14,  1873,  steamer  Ironsides  wrecked  between  Milwaukee  and  Grand 
Haven;  twenty-eight  persons  lost  their  lives. 

Jan.  10,  1883,  burning  of  the  Newhall  house  in  Milwaukee,  the  coroner's 
jury  rendering  a  verdict  that  the  fire  was  of  incendiary  origin.  Eighty  persons 
perished   in   this   fire. 

October,  1SS6,  wreck  at  East  Rio  of  the  limited  express  of  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  company;  fifteen  persons  incinerated  in  the  burning  cars. 

Nov.  8,  1883,  fall  of  the  south  wing  of  the  capitol  at  Madison,  during  process 
of  construction;  seven  of  the  workmen  hurried  in  the  debris. 

Oct.  29,  1887,  sinking  of  the  Vernon  off  Two  Rivers,  and  every  member  of 
the  crew  but  one  drowned;  a  score  of  the  bodies  recovered  by  the  crew  of  the  life 
saving  station.    Thirty  lives  were  lost. 

May  18,  1894,  the  schooner  Cummings  foundered  in  shallow  water  In  Mil- 
waukee bay  and  six  persons  lost  their  lives.  Thousands  of  persons  on  shore  wit- 
nessed the  futile  efforts  of  the  life-savers  to  rescue  the  sailors  who  climbed  into 
the  rigging  when  the  boat  sank. 

April  20,  1893,  during  a  terrific  storm  fifteen  workmen  on  the  intake  crib, 
oft  Milwaukee,  lost  their  lives.  They  were  forced  to  leave  the  air  chamber  of 
the  crib  because  of  the  foul  air,  and  as  they  opened  the  lock  the  waves  dashed 
in,  filled  the  well  with  water,  and  all  but  one  of  the  workmen  were  drowned. 

Januan,-,  1895,  unexplained  disappearance  of  the  propeller  Chicora,  which 
left  Milwaukee  for  St.  Joseph  with  a  crew  of  twenty-five  men  and  two  passen- 
gers. It  is  believed  that  she  sprang  a  leak  during  a  fierce  blizzard  and  went  to 
the  bottom. 

During  the  days  of  wildcat  banking  in  territorial  times,  the 
people  of  Wisconsin  sustained  heavy  losses;  they  suffered  reverses 
when  the  hard  times  of  1873  swept  over  the  country;  but  the 
climax  of  commercial  adversity  overtook  them  in  1893.  The  business 
panic  of  that  year,  which  swept  from  one  end  of  the   country  to 


288 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


the  other,  engulfed  about  200  commercial  houses  in  this  state  and 
two  scores  of  banks  were  forced  to  close  their  doors.  The  panic 
began  with  a  run  on  the  banks,  and  the  exciting  scenes  of  disap- 
pointed depositors  demanding  admittance  through  doors  that  were 
closed  were  an  almost  daily  occurrence  during  the  month  of  July. 
The  banks  toppled  like  a  house  built  of  cards  when  the  runs 
were  in  progress;  securities  that  had  been  considered  worth  mil- 
lions shrank  to  thousands  in  actual  value.  In  Milwaukee,  five 
banks  closed  their  doors;  the  Wisconsin  Marine  bank,  popularly 
known  as  Mitchell's,  was  one  of  them.  It  had  stood  as  the  rock 
of  Gibraltar  since  the  early  days  of  the  territory,  and  when  payment 
stopped  across  its  counters,  the  gloom  deepened  in  the  business 
circles  of  the  entire  state.  The  five  Milwaukee  banks  that  failed 
had  $13,700,000  of  assets  and  but  $11,700,000  of  liabilities,  and  two 
of  them — one  of  them  Mitchell's  bank — resumed  business  when  the 


Gen.    Lucius  Fairchild. 


panic  subsided.  In  but  one  instance  was  brazen  dishonesty  the 
cause  of  the  wreck,  and  the  culprit  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary. 
Dishonesty  of  management  was  also  pharged  in  a  few  instances 
in  other  cities  of  the  state,  but  on  the  whole  unforseen  and 
unavoidable  conditions  contributed  mainly  to  the  business  disasters 
of  the  year.  The  storm  cleared  the  business  atmosphere  and 
eventually  led  to  more  wholesome  financial  methods  in  commer- 
cial life. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

IN   THE   REALM    OF    POLITICS. 

Owing  to  the  mistaken  policy  of  its  people  in  displacing  their 
congressional  representatives  as  soon  as  they  become  experienced 
legislators,  Wisconsin  does  not  occupy  the  important  place  in  the 
annals  of  national  politics  which  the  ability  of  its  statesmen  would 
otherwise  have  earned.  Another  reason  why  its  influence  in 
national  affairs  has  been  minimized  is  that  in  but  one  presidential 
campaign  during  the  past  half  century  has  its  electoral  vote  been 
regarded  as  a  determining  factor.  Residence  in  pivotal  states  is 
of  immense  advantage  to  aspiring  politicians,  and  has  often  enabled 
men  of  mediocre  ability  to  secure  precedence  over  other  men 
whose  native  talent  was  ignored  to  serve  party  expediency. 

Reverting  to  the  first  cause,  a  list  of  Wisconsin's  166  congres- 
sional representatives  shows  that  only  seven  have  been  reelected 
more  than  twice.  The  Southern  policy  of  retaining  the  services 
of  congressmen  long  enough  to  derive  the  benefit  of  ripened 
experience  in  debate  and  legislation  long  enabled  the  minority  from 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  to  cope  successfully  with  the 
numerical  preponderence  in  opposition.  The  seven  Wisconsin 
congressmen  who  served  more  than  three  terms  each  were:  C.  C. 
Washburn,  Amasa  Cobb,  Nils  P.  Haugen,  four  terms  each;  Philetus 
Sawyer,  Charles  G.  Williams,  five  terms  each;  Charles  A.  Eldredge, 
six  terms;  Lucien  B.  Caswell,  seven  terms. 

Despite  the  causes  which  have  operated  to  diminish  Wisconsin's 
influence  in  national  affairs,  there  have  been  occasions  when 
opportunities  have  come  and  have  been  taken  to  strike  the  keynote 
for  the  nation.  In  the  early  days  of  statehood  a  few  determined 
men  aided  immensely  in  creating  public  sentiment  on  the  slavery 
question  by  their  courageous  attitude  in  behalf  of  a  cause  then 
unpopular;  the  incidents  connected  with  the  rescue  of  a  fugitive 
slave  and  the  ringing  declaration  of  the  Wisconsin  Supreme  court 
justices  on  that  occasion  have  been  told.  Pamphlets  containing  the 
forceful  arguments  of  Byron  Paine  and  the  emphatic  conclusions 
of  Justice  Smith  were  sold  by  the  thousands  on  the  streets  of  Boston. 

When  the  Greenback  theory  was  sweeping  all  before  it  in  the 
agricultural  Northwest  in  the  '70's,  and  politicians  of  all  parties 
seemed  eager  to  crook  the  pregnant  hinges  of  the  knee  to  the 
"rag  baby,"  one  man's  courageous  attitude  in  opposition  changed 
the  current  of  events.  While  his  party  associates  chattered  with 
fear,  Horace  Rublee  committed  his  party  to  advocacy  of  sound 
money.  This  attitute  appealed  with  irresistible  force  to  the  Ger- 
mans, ever  averse  to  financial  methods  that  to  them  might  appear 

2S9 


290 


Leading  Events  of  Wiseonsin  History. 


questionable.  "What  seemed  a  hopeless  undertaking  became  a 
triumphant  reality,  the  fiat  money  cause  was  hopelessly  wrecked 
In  this  state  and  eventually  in  the  entire  Northwest. 

More  recently,  when  the  issue  of  silver  money  became  a 
dominant  one  in  politics,  Wisconsin  Democrats  took  the  lead  in  the 
organization  of  a  new  party — the  National  Democracy.  In  propor- 
tion to  number  of  votes,  the  largest  majority  against  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  cast  by  anj-  state  was  that  given  by  Wisconsin. 
But  for  the  unfounded  belief  that  Illinois  was  a  doubtful  state 
and   that  the   standard-bearer   should    therefore   be   selected    from 


STAND  BY  IT! 


"The  Little  Red  Schoolhouse." 

(Emblematic    Device   fsed    in    Political    Literature    and   on    Banners    During    tbe 
Exciting  Bennett  Law  Campaign  of  1890.) 


that  state,  Gen.  Edward  S.  Bragg  of  Wisconsin  would  have  been 
the  presidential  nominee  of  the  National  Democrats.  In  the 
Indianapolis  convention  of  1896  delegates  from  fourteen  states 
expressed  their  preference  for  him. 

In  national  partj^  conventions,  both  Republicans  and  Democrats 
of  this  state  have  on  numerous  occasions  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  country.  In  the  Republican  convention  of  1880,  made  mem- 
orable by  Grant's  solid  phalanx  of  306  supporters,  Wisconsin  led 
the  stampede  that  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  James  A.  Garfield 
for  president.  The  battle  of  ballots  had  been  in  progress  a  full 
•week  when  the   break  came  unexpectedly,   the  Wisconsin  delega- 


The  Story  of  the  State.  291 


tion's  conclusion  to  vote  for  Garfield  having  been  reached  while 
the  balloting  was  in  progress.  The  incident  is  thus  told  by  A.  J. 
Turner,  one  of  the  delegates: 

"When  the  vote  of  Wisconsin  was  announced,  the  turmoil  that 
had  reigned  supreme  for  a  time  was  hushed  for  the  moment  as 
if  in  the  stillness  of  death,  and  every  eye  was  turned  toward  the 
Wisconsin  delegation  as  if  to  inquire,  'What  does  that  mean?'  It  is 
absolutely  certain  that  no  delegate  outside  of  our  own  delegation 
suspected  that  anything  of  the  sort  was  about  to  happen.  They 
could  not  have  done  so,  for  we  did  not  know  we  were  going  to 
do  it  ourselves  scarcely  a  moment  before.  In  a  moment  tae  galleries 
and  the  convention  itself  were  in  the  wildest  uproar.  It  is  doubtful 
if  any  such  scene  ever  occurred  in  a  convention  before.  The 
popular  chord  had  been  touched  as  if  by  the  wand  of  a  magician. 
Gen.  Garfield,  pale  and  dumbfounded,  arose  from  his  seat  and 
challenged  the  right  of  any  delegate  to  vote  for  him  without  his 
consent,  a  consent  he  had  not  given. 

"When  it  seemed  likely  that  the  entire  convention  was  about 
to  be  stampeded  to  Gen.  Garfield,  Gen.  Beaver  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  grim  and  grizzly  one-legged  old  soldier  that  he  was,  mounted 
his  seat,  and  resting  upon  his  crutch,  waved  his  hand  and  gave 
the  word  of  command  to  the  immortal  '306':  'Grant  men,  steady, 
steady!'  The  watchword  was  immediately  taken  up  by  the  followers 
of  the  great  commander,  and  quietly  they  passed  the  word:  'Grant 
men,  steady!'  down  their  lines,  and  the  column  was  firm  once 
more  as  the  rock  of  Chickamauga,  and  gave  ample  evidence  of 
Gen.  Beaver's  soldierly  qualities  when  receiving  the  charge  of  a 
Confederate  legion,  such  an  one  as  Gen.  Mahone  would  have  led 
against  his  lines.     It  was  inexpressibly  grand. 

"What  followed  every  one  knows.  Gen.  Garfield  was  nomi- 
nated and  triumphantly  elected." 

In  the  Republican  convention  of  1888  the  Wisconsin  delegation 
cast  a  solid  vote  for  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk  for  presidential  nominee. 
The  time  was  not  auspicious  for  a  Wisconsin  candidate,  despite 
the  personal  sentiment  for  the  good  gray  governor  of  Wisconsin. 
The  politicians  were  seeking  a  candidate  in  one  of  the  doubtful 
states.  At  a  critical  moment  in  the  balloting,  the  Wisconsin 
delegation  added  its  votes  to  the  column  for  Benjamin  Harrison, 
and  nominated  him.  Wisconsiin,  being  the  last  state  called  in  the 
alphabetical  roll  of  states,  was  enabled  to  avail  itself  of  this  point 
of  vantage  to  determine  the  result. 

In  the  Democratic  convention  of  1884,  William  F.  Vilas  was 
chosen  permanent  chairman.  In  that  capacity  it  became  his  duty 
to  notify  Grover  Cleveland  of  his  nomination.  So  well  impressed 
was  the  latter  with  the  address  of  the  Wisconsin  orator  that  when 
he  became  president  he  chose  Col.  Vilas  as  a  member  of  his  ofilcial 


292  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

family.  It  was  in  the  course  of  this  convention  that  Gen.  Edward 
S.  Bragg's  stinging  allusion  to  the  Tammany  contingent  created 
a  furore  that  led  to,  if  it  was  not  the  immediate  cause  of,  Grover 
Cleveland's  nomination:  "We  love  him  for  the  enemies  he 
has  made." 

Twelve  years  later,  in  Democratic  national  convention,  it  was 
again  Gen.  Bragg  who  spoke  for  his  party  associates  from  Wiscon- 
sin, and  this  time  his  words  were  prophetic  of  doom.  The  silver 
men  had  carried  the  day,  and  the  Wisconsin  delegation  had  de- 
clined to  vote.  Gen.  Bragg  jumped  upon  a  chair  and  facing  the 
great  audience  he  seemed  a  prophet  of  disaster,  as  he  cried: 

"Wisconsin  will  fight  under  another  banner  and  for  another 
candidate." 

Gen.  Zachary  Taylor,  elected  president  of  the  United  States  in 
1848,  was  stationed  in  Wisconsin  as  an  army  officer  during  the 
territorial  days,  but  was  never  a  resident  of  the  state.  Matthew 
Hale  Carpenter  was  elected  president  of  the  United  States  senate 
in  1873,  and  served  during  the  session  of  the  forty-third  congress. 
Four  presidents  have  chosen  Wisconsin  men  for  members  of  their 
cabinets.     The  portfolios  held  by  them  are  here  given: 

Alexander  W.  Randall,  postmaster-general  in  the  cabinet  of  President  John- 
son, promoted  from  assistant  postmaster-general  upon  the  resignation  of  William 
Denninson. 

Timothy  O.  Howe,  postmaster-general  in  the  cabinet  of  Chester  A.  Arthur 
from   Dec.   20,   1881,    till  his  death   in   March,   1883. 

William  F.  Vilas,  postmaster-general  in  Grover  Cleveland's  first  cabinet, 
beginning  March  5,  1885;  appointed  secretary  of  interior  upon  the  promotion  of 
Lucius  Q.   C.   Lamar  to  the  bench. 

Jeremiah  M.  Rusk,  secretary  of  agriculture  in  Benjamin  Harrison's  cabinet, 
serving  during  the  entire  administration.  He  was  the  first  secretary  of  the 
department  after  its  conversion  from  a  bureau  to  a  cabinet  position. 

Some  important  posts  in  the  diplomatic  service  have  been  held 
by  Wisconsin  men,  among  them  these: 

Carl  Schurz,  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Spain; 
appointed  by  President  Lincoln  in  1861. 

Alexander  W.  Randall,  minister  at  Rome;  appointed  by  President  Lincoln. 

Rufus  King,  minister  resident  at  Rome;  appointed  by  President  Lincoln. 

Horace  Rublee,  minister  resident  at  Berne,  Switzerland;  appointed  by  Pres- 
ident Grant  in  1870;  resigned  to  resume  editorial  work  in  Wisconsin. 

Lucius  Fairchild,  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  to 
Spain;   appointed   by  President  Hayes. 

Rasmus  B.  Anderson,  minister  resident  at  Copenhagen,  Denmark;  appointed 
by  President  Cleveland. 

John  Hicks,  minister  extraordinary  and  envoy  plenipotentiary  to  Peru; 
appointed  by  President  Harrison.  ^ 

Edward  S.  Bragg,  minister  plenipotentiary  and  envoy  extraordinary  to 
Mexico;  appointed  by  President  Cleveland. 

Ernst  Dichman,  minister  resident  in  Columbia;  appointed  by  President 
Hayes. 

Mortimer  M.  Jackson,  consul-general  to  the  British  maritime  provinces; 
appointed  by  President  Hayes,  after  many  years  of  service  as  consul  at  Halifax. 

Julius  Goldschmidt,  consul-general  at  Vienna;  appointed  by  President  Har- 
rison; consul-general  at  Berlin,   appointed  by  President  McKinley. 

Richard  Guenther,  consul-general  at  the  City  of  Mexico;  appointed  by  Pres- 
ident   Harrison. 

Wendell  A.  Anderson,  consul-general  at  Montreal;  appointed  by  President 
Cleveland   in   1885  and  again   in   1893. 

Jeremiah  Curtin,  secretary  of  legation  at  St.  Petersburg,  while  Cassius  ]\I. 
Clay  was  minister  at  the  court  of  the  czar. 

William  Rufus  Finch,  minister  resident  at  Paraguay,  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent McKinley 


The  Ston/  of  the  f?fate. 


293 


Jos.  G.  Donnelly,  consul-general  at  Nueva  Laredo,  Mexico;  appointed  by 
President  Cleveland. 

Consuls— John  P.  Potter,  at  Montreal;  Charles  Seymour,  Canton;  Thos.  B. 
Reid,  Funchal,  Portugal;  Frank  Leland,  Hamilton,  Can.;  Evan  R.  Jones.  New- 
castle, Eng. ;  W.  W.  Robinson,  Tamatave,  Madagascar;  Chester  E.  Jackson, 
Antigua;  William  B.  West,  Galway;  Hiram  Tuttle.  Montevideo;  R.  P.  McBride, 
Leith,  Scotland;  Carl  Jonas,  Prague  and  St.  Petersburg;  Roger  Spooner,  Prague'; 
William  A.  Rublee,  Prague;  Walter  E.  Gardner,  Rotterdam;  A.  J.  Reid,  Dublin; 
Peter  V.  Deuster,  Crefeld;  George  Keenan,  Bremen;  George  R.  Ernst,  Reiehen- 
berg;  F.  W.  Kickbusch,  Stettin;  David  C.  Davis,  Swansea,  Wales;  O.  E.  Dreutzer, 
Bergen,  Norway;  Edw.  Cramer,  Florence;  Chas.  W.  Merriman,  Brockville,  Ont. ; 
Daniel  E.   McGinley,  Athens. 

Charles  Seymour  is  one  of  the  oldest  consuls  in  the  diplomatic 
service.  He  went  from  La  Crosse  to  Canton,  China,  in  Grant's  last 
administration  and  has  served  continuously  since.  During  the 
anti-Christian    riots,   a    number   of    years    ago,    it   was    due   to    his 


William  Dempster  Hoard. 
Governor,   1889-1891. 


energy   and    forethought    that    many    Caucasian    residents    of    the 
Orient  city  were  saved  from  the  fury  of  the  Chinese  fanatics. 

After  many  years  of  consular  service  at  Cardiff,  Wales,  Evan 
R.  Jones  resigned  his  post  a  few  years  ago,  stood  for  election  to 
parliament  and  was  successful.  Carl  Schurz  was  another  diplomat 
who  never  returned  to  the  state  whence  he  was  appointed.  He 
took  up  his  residence  in  Missouri  after  the  war,  served  as  United 
States  senator  and  became  secretary  of  interior  in  the  cabinet  of 
President  Hayes.  He  was  the  last  cabinet  officer  of  foreign  birth, 
the  new  law  of  presidential  succession  rendering  citizens  of  foreign 
birth   ineligible  for   cabinet  positions. 


294 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


The  people  of  Wisconsin  have  voted  in  thirteen  presidential 
elections,  their  preference  on  these  several  occasions  as  shown  by 
the  popular  vote  having  been  respectively  for  Lewis  Cass,  Dem.. 
Franklin  Pierce,  Dem.;  John  C.  Fremont,  Rep.;  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Rep.  (twice);  Ulyssus  S.  Grant,  Rep.  (twice);  Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 
Rep.;  James  A.  Garfield,  Rep.;  James  G.  Blaine,  Rep.;  Benjamin 
Harrison,  Rep.;  Grover  Cleveland,  Dem.;  William  McKinley,  Rep. 

The  electoral  vote  at  the  state  was  cast  three  times  for  an 
unsuccessful  presidential  candidate;  Lewis  Cass,  John  C.  Fremont, 
and  James  G.  Blaine. 

There  have  been  eighteen  governors  of  the  state  during  its 
half-century  of  political  existence,  and  eleven  of  them  were  natives 
of  either  New  York  or  Connecticut.  The  first  nine  were  young 
men,  none  of  them  more  than  45  years  of  age,  and  four  of  these 
not  older  than  35 — while  all  of  the  last  nine  governors  had  passed 
the  half-century  milestone.  When  Wisconsin  became  a  state,  its 
population  was  made  up  largely  of  young  men — a  vigorous,  ener- 
getic and  intellectual  group  of  pioneers,  and  naturally  they  were 
at  the  fore  in  public  affairs.  During  the  last  quarter  century  the 
conservatism  that  maturity  brings  has  shown  its  influence  in 
politics  as  in  other  channels  of  life.  The  list  of  Wisconsin's 
governors  is  as  follows: 

Term  of 

service. 

Nelson  Dewey,  Dem 4  years 

Leonard  James  Farwell,  Whig 2  years 

Wm.  Augustus  Barstow,  Dem 2  years 

Coles  Bashford,  Rep 2  years 

Alexander  Williams  Randall,  Rep 4  years 

Louis  Powell  Harvey,  Rep 3  mos. 

Edward  Salomon,  Rep lyr.  9m. 

James  Taylor  Lewis,  Rep 2  years 

Lucius  Fairchild,  Rep 6  years 

Cadwallader  Coldoon  Washburn,  Rep  2  years 

William  Robert  Taylor,  Dem 2  years 

Harrison  Ludington,  Rep 2  years 

William  E.  Smith,  Rep 4  years 

Jeremiah  McLain  Rusk,  Rep 7  years 

William  Dempster  Hoard,  Rep 2  years 

George  Wilbur  Peck,  Dem 4  years 

William  Henry  Upham,  Rep 2  years 

Edward  Scofield,  Rep 2  years 


Age  at 

Resi- 

Place of     time  of 

dence. 

birth.          elect'n. 

Lancaster 

Connecticut 

35 

Madison 

New  York 

33 

Waukesha 

Connecticut 

41 

Oshkosh 

New  York 

40 

Waukesha 

New  York 

39 

Shopiere 

Connecticut 

42 

Milwaukee 

Prussia 

34 

Columbus 

New  York 

45 

Madison 

Ohio 

35 

La  Crosse 

Maine 

54 

Cottage  Grove 

Connecticut 

54 

Milwaukee 

New  York 

64 

Milwaukee 

Scotland 

54 

Viroqua 

Ohio 

52 

Ft.  Atkinson 

New  York 

63 

Milwaukee 

New  York 

51 

Marshfleld 

Massachusetts  53 

Oconto 

Pennsylvania 

54 

Several  gubernatorial  candidates  were  elected  by  narrow  inar- 
gins  when  their  party  associates  "fell  outside  the  breastworks." 
These  were:  Farwell,  Whig,  in  1851,  507  majority;  Bashford,  Rep., 
in  1855,  1,009  majority;  Randall,  Rep.,  1857,  454  majority;  Ludington, 
Rep.,  in  1875,  841  majority.  The  unsuccessful  candidates  for  gover- 
nor comprise  the  following  list: 

Whigs— John  H.  Tweedy,  1S48;  A.  L.  Collins,  1849;  Henry  S.  Baird,  1853;  E. 
D.   Holton   (Abolitionist),    1853. 

Republicans— C.  C.  Washburn,  1873;  William  D.  Hoard,  1890;  John  C. 
Spooner,    1892.  ^„,.     ^    „    „ 

Democrats— Don  A.  J.  Upham,  1851:  William  A.  Barstow,  185o:  J.  B.  Cross, 
1857;  Harrison  C.  Hobart,  1859  and  1865;  Benjamin  Ferguson,  1861;  Henry  L. 
Palmer,   1863;   J.   J.   Tallmadge,   1867;   C.    D.   Robinson,    1869;   James  R.    Doolittle, 


The  Story  of  the  State.  295 


1871;  William  R.  Taylor,  1875;  James  A.  Mallorv,  1877;  James  G.  Jenkins  1879- 
Nicholas  D.  Fratt,  1SS2  and  1S84;  Gilbert  M.  Woodward,  188S;  James  Morgan  1888'- 
George    W.    Peck.    1S94;    W.    C.    Silverthorn,    1896. 

Greenbackers— Edw.  P.  Allis,  1877  and  1882;  Reuben.  May,  1879;  William  L 
Utley,    1884. 

Populists— John  Cochrane,  1886;  D.  Frank  Powell,  1888;  Reuben  May  1890- 
C.   M.    Butt,   1892;   D.   F.    Powell,   1894. 

Prohibitionists — Theo.  D.  Kanouse,  ISSO;  Samuel  D.  Hastings,  1884-  John  M 
Olin,  1S8G;  E.  G.  Durant.  1888;  Charles  Alexander,  1890;  T.  C.  Richmond  1892' 
John  F.   Cleghorn,   1894;   Joshua  H.   Berkey.  1896.  '  ' 

Socialist— Colin  Campbell,  1877;  Christ.  Tuttrop,  1896. 

Nationalist — Robert  Henderson,   1896. 

The  Supreme  court  was  not  separately  organized  until  1853; 
previous  to  that  year  the  judges  of  the  Circuit  courts  were  ex-officio 
justices  of  the  Supreme  court.  Following  jurists  have  served 
as  members  of  this  tribunal: 

Chief  Justices— Alexander  W.  Stow,  Levi  Hubbell.  Edward  V.  Whiton, 
Luther  S.  Dixon.  Edward  G.  Ryan,  Orsamus  Cole,  William  Penn  Lyon,  Harlow 
S.    Orton,    John    B.    Cassoday. 

Associate  Justices— Charles  H.  Larrabee,  Mortimer  M.  Jackson,  Timothy  O. 
Howe,  Hiram  Knowlton,  Samuel  Crawford,  Abram  D.  Smith,  Byron  Paine,  Jason 
Downer,  David  Taylor,  John  B.  Winslow,  Silas  U.  Pinney,  Alfred  W.  Newman, 
Roujet  D.    :\Iarshall. 

Senatorial  honors  have  been  conferred  by  the  legislatures  of 
the  state  upon  eleven  men — four  of  them  Democrats  and  seven 
Republicans.  James  R.  Doolittle  was  twice  elected  as  a  Republican, 
and  during  his  second  term  became  a  Democrat.  He  had  been  a 
Democrat  up  to  six  years  previous  to  his  first  election.  Matthew 
H.  Carpenter  was  also  a  recent  convert  from  Democracy  when  he 
became  United  States  senator.  Timothy  0.  Howe  was  the  only 
United  States  senator  from  Wisconsin  who  served  three  terms, 
seven  served  two  terms  each,  and  fcur  were  retired  upon  the 
expiration  of  their  first  term. 

But  one  of  the  senators  from  Wisconsin  was  born  in  this  state; 
none  of  them  were  of  foreign  birth.  This  is  also  true  of  the 
eighteen  governors  of  the  state  with  two  exceptions:  William  E. 
Smith,  Who  was  born  in  Scotland,  and  Edward  Salomon,  who  was 
born  in  Germany.  The  list  of  United  States  senators  who  have 
represented  Wisconsin,  with  place  of  nativity  and  residence  at 
time  of  election,  is  as  follows: 

Isaac  P.  Walker,  Dem.,  of  Milwaukee,  elected  June  8,  1848,  and  reelected 
Jan.   17,  1849;   born   in  Virginia  in  1813. 

Henry  Dodge,  Dem.,  of  Dodgeville,  elected  June  8,  1848,  and  reelected  Jan. 
20,  1851;  born  in   Indiana  in  1782. 

Charles  Durkee,  Rep.,  of  Kenosha,  elected  Feb.  1,  1855;  born  in  Vermont 
In   1805. 

James  R.  Doolittle,  Rep.,  of  Racine,  elected  Jan.  23,  1857,  and  reelected  Jan. 
22    1863;   born   in   New   York  in   1815. 

Timothy  O.  Howe,  Rep.,  of  Green  Bay,  elected  Jan.  23,  1861.  and  reelected 
Jan.  24,  1867,  and  again  Jan.  21,  1873;  born  in  Maine,  in  1816,  where  he  served 
in  the  legislature  rrevious  to  coming  to  Wisconsin. 

Matthew  Hale  Carpenter.  Rep.,  of  Milwaukee,  elected  Jan.  26,  1869,  and 
again  Jan.   22,  1879;  born  in  Vermont  in  1824. 

Angus  Cameron,  Rep.,  of  La  Crosse,  elected  Feb.  3,  187o,  and  again  March 
10,  1881:  born  in  New  York  in  1826. 

Philetus   Sawyer,    Rep.,    of   Oshkosh,   elected  Jan.    26,    1881,   and   again   Jan. 

26,  1887;  born  in  Vermont  in  1816.  „.    ,rn-         j,  •      t 

John  Colt  Spooner,   Rep.,   of  Hudson,  elected  Jan.   28,  ISSo,   and  again  Jan. 

27,  1897;  born   in  Indiana  in  1843. 


296  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

William  Freeman  Vilas,  Dem.,  of  Madison,  elected  Jan.  28,  1891;  born  in 
Vermont  in  1840. 

John  Lendrum  Mitchell,  Dem.,  of  Milwaukee,  elected  Jan.  26,  1893;  born 
In  Wisconsin  in  1842. 

Some  of  the  contests  for  senator  attracted  attention  all  over 
the  country.  In  1S61  Timothy  O.  Howe,  C.  C.  "Washburn  and 
Alexander  Randall  were  contestants.  It  was  a  battle  of  giants. 
Randall's  withdrawal  elected  Howe.  Four  years  before  Timothy 
Howe  had  shown  himself  a  statesman  and  not  a  truckling  politi- 
cian. He  could  have  been  elected  then  had  he  yielded  to  the 
popular  clamor  and  subscribed  to  the  Calhoun  doctrine  of  states' 
rights.  Like  Henry  Clay,  he  would  rather  be  right  than  be  presi- 
dent, and  without  qualification  he  declared  that  the  doctrine  was 
wrong  and  full  of  danger  to  the  Union — and  he  was  defeated. 
His  election  in  1861  was  a  grand  vindication.  For  eighteen  years 
the  people  of  Wisconsin  kept  him  in  the  United  States  senate — the 
longest  term  in  congress  served  by  any  Wisconsin  representative 
except  Philetus  Sawyer,  who  spent  ten  years  in  the  lower  branch 
and  twelve  in  the  upper  house  of  congress.  The  election  of  Judge 
Howe  created  immense  enthusiasm  all  over  the  state.  In  Mil- 
waukee, Green  Bay  and  elsewhere,  guns  were  fird  in  honor  of 
the  event. 

The  novelty  of  a  competitive  oratorical  contest  was  introduced 
in  the  election  of  1869.  The  candidates  were  Edward  Salomon, 
Matt  H.  Carpenter,  Horace  Rublee,  C.  C.  Washburn  and  O.  H. 
Waldo.  The  suggestion  came  from  the  friends  of  Carpenter,  who 
had  faith  in  the  persuasive  fa&cination  of  his  oratory.  A  great 
meeting  was  held  in  the  assembly  chamber  and  four  candidates 
made  speeches.  Whether  the  speeches  influenced  the  legislators 
or  not  is  problematical.  Matt  H.  Carpenter  was  elected  by  a 
narrow  margin. 

When  Carpenter  sought  reelection,  in  1875,  there  ensued  the 
most  bitter  senatorial  contest  in  the  history  of  the  state.  He  had 
voted  for  the  notorious  congressional  salary  grab,  and  had  defended 
his  vote  in  a  public  speech.  The  Republican  caucus  chose  him  as 
its  nominee,  but  enough  Republicans  bolted  to  prevent  his  election. 
The  Carpenter  phalanx  stood  firm  to  the  bitter  end,  and  a  deadlock 
ensued.  A  coalition  of  the  Democrats  and  Republican  bolters  was 
attempted  in  the  interest  of  Judge  Orsamus  Cole,  but  a  minority 
of  the  Democrats  would  not  enter  it  on  the  ground  that  Judge 
Cole  had  shown  hostility  to  the  liquor  interests.  Finally  a  com- 
bination was  effected  in  favor  of  Angus  Cameron,  of  La  Crosse, 
who  was  elected.  Four  years  later  Carpenter  again  secured  the 
election  after  a  bitter  campaign.  It  w^as  a  notable  triangular 
contest,  and  more  than  a  hundred  ballots  were  taken,  during  many 
sessions  of  the  Republicans  in  caucus,  before  Carpenter  triumphed. 

In  1881  two  senatorial  elections  occurred.  Senator  Carpenter's 
death  while  the  legislature  was  in  session  creating  a  vacancy,  and 


TJie  Story  of  the  State.  297 


the  expiration  of  Cameron's  term  another.  Philetus  Sawyer  easily- 
defeated  E.  W.  Keyes  for  the  long  term,  to  succeed  Cameron. 
When  Carpenter  died,  a  contest  of  unparalleled  rivalry  -was  devel- 
oped. For  many  days  the  Republican  caucus  balloted  fruitlessly. 
It  was  the  winter  of  deep  snows,  and  part  of  the  time  the  legis- 
lators were  snowbound  at  the  capital,  and  delegations  of  lohbyists 
were  unable  to  reach  them.  Among  the  candidates  voted  for  were 
E.  W.  Keyes,  Angus  Cameron,  Luther  S.  Dixon,  J.  M.  Bingham, 
George  C  Hazelton,  C.  G  William.s,  William  T  Price,  D.  M.  Kelly, 
J.  v.  Quarles,  Charles  L.  Colby,  Jonathan  Bowman.  Finally  the 
battle  became  a  joint  attack  of  all  the  elements  opposing  Angus 
Cameron.  The  opposition  united  on  Jonathan  Bowman  of  Kilboum 
City.  The  final  vote  resulted:  Angus  Cameron,  51;  Jonathan 
Bowman,  49.  For  the  second  time  Angus  Cameron  became  United 
States  senator  after  a  candidacy  of  less  than  a  week. 

The  first  two  senators  were  Democrats.  Not  until  1891  did  the 
Democrats  elect  another.  Mr.  Vilas  was  chosen  without  opposition, 
but  two  years  later  there  was  a  bitter  contest  between  John  L. 
Mitchell,  J.  H.  Knight  and  E.  S.  Bragg.  It  attracted  national  atten- 
tion, chiefly  owing  to  the  reputation  of  Gen  Bragg. 

When  Wisconsin  became  a  state  its  representatives  in  congress 
numbered  only  four — two  in  each  house.  Its  delegation  in  the  house 
of  representatives  is  now  ten.  Following  is  a  list  of  the  men  who 
have  occupied  seats  in  the  lower  branch  of  congress  as  representa- 
tives from  this  state,  the  districts  represented  being  given  in 
numerical  order: 

Thirtieth  Congress  (1847-49)— William  Pitt  Lynde,  Dem.;  Mason  C.  Darling, 
Dem. 

Thirty-first  Congress  (1849-51)— Charles  Durkee,  Free-soiler;  Orsamus  Cole, 
Whig;  James  Duane  Doty,   Dem. 

Thirty-second  Congress  (1851-53)— Charles  Durkee,  Ind.;  Benjamin  C.  East- 
man, Dem. ;  John  B.  Macy,   Dem. 

Thirty-third  Congress  (1853-55)— Daniel  Wells,  Jr.,  Dem.;  Benjamin  C.  East- 
man,  Dem. ;  John  B.   Macy,   Dem. 

Thirty-fourth  Congress  (1855-57)— Daniel  Wells,  Jr.,  Dem. ;  Cadwellader  C. 
Washburn,    Rep. ;   Charles   Billinghurst,    Dem. 

Thirty-fifth  Congress  (1857-59)— John  F.  Potter,  Rep.;  C.  C.  Washburn, 
Rep. ;  Charles  Billinghurst.   Dem. 

Thirty-sixth  Congress  (1859-61)— John  F.  Potter,  Rep.;  C.  C.  Washburn, 
Rep. ;  Charles  H.   Larrabee,   Dem. 

Thirty-seventh  Congress  (1861-63)— John  F.  Potter,  Rep.;  Luther  Hanchett, 
Rep.  (died  Nov.  24,  1862,  and  Walter  D.  Mclndoe,  Rep.,  elected  to  fill  vacancy); 
A.    Scott   Sloan,    Rep. 

Thirty-eighth  Congress  (1863-6.5)— James  S.  Brown,  Dem.;  Ithamar  C. 
Sloan,  Rep. ;  Amasa  Cobb,  Rep. ;  Charles  A.  Eldredge,  Dem. ;  Ezra  Wheeler, 
Dem. ;   Walter  D.    Mclndoe,    Rep. 

Thirty-ninth  Congress  (1865-67)— Halbert  E.  Paine,  Rep.;  I.  C.  Sloan,  Rep.; 
Amasa  Cobb,  Rep.;  Charles  A.  Eldredge,  Dem.;  Philetus  Sawyer,  Rep.;  Walter 
D.  Mclndoe,   Rep. 

Fortieth  Congress  (1867-69)- Halbert  E.  Paine,  Rep.;  Benjamin  F.  Hopkins, 
Rep.;  Amasa  Cobb.  Rep.;  Charles  A.  Eldredge,  Dem.;  Philetus  Sawyer,  Rep.; 
C.   C.   Washburn.    Rep. 

Forty-first  Congress  (1869-71)— Halbert  C.  Paine,  Rep.;  Benjamin  F.  Hop- 
kins, Rep.  (died  Jan.  1,  1870,  and  David  Atwood,  Rep.,  elected  to  fill  vacancy); 
Amasa  Cobb,  Rep.;  Charles  A.  Eldredge,  Dem.;  Philetus  Sawyer,  Rep.;  C.  C. 
Washburn,   Rep. 

Forty-second  Conogress  (1871-73)— Alexander  Mitchell,  Dem.;  Gerry  W. 
Hazelton,  Rep.;  J.  Allen  Barber,  Rep.;  Charles  A.  Eldredge,  Dem.;  Philetus 
Sawyer,  Rep.;  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk,  Rep. 


298  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


Forty-third  Congress  (1873-75)— Charles  G.  Willidms,  Rep. ;  Gerry  W.  Hazel- 
ton,  Rep.;  J.  Allen  Barber,  Rep.:  Alexander  Mitchell,  Dem. ;  Charles  A.  Eld- 
ledge,  Dem. ;  Philetus  Sawyer,  Rep. ;  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk,  Rep. ;  Alexander  S. 
McDill,   Rep. 

Forty-fourth  Congress  (1875-77)— Charles  G.  Williams,  Rep. ;  Lucien  B. 
Casv.'ell,  Rep.;  Henry  S.  Magoon,  Rep.;  William  Pitt  Lynde,  Dem.;  Samuel  D. 
Burchard,  Dem.;  Alanson  M.  Kimball,  Rep.;  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk,  Rep.;  George 
W.   Gate,  Dem. 

Forty-fifth  Congress  (1877-79)— Charles  G.  Williams,  Rep.;  Lucien  B.  Cas- 
well, Rep.;  George  C.  Hazelton,  Rep.;  William  Pitt  Lynde,  Dem.;  Edward  S. 
Bragg,  Dem. ;  Gabriel  Bouck,  Dem. ;  Herman  L.  Humphrey,  Rep. ;  Thaddeus 
C.   Pound,   Rep. 

Forty-sixth  Congress  (1879-81) — Charles  G.  Williams,  Rep. ;  Lucien  B.  Cas- 
well, Rep. ;  George  C.  Hazelton,  Rep. ;  Peter  V.  Deuster,  Dem. ;  Edward  S. 
Bragg,  Dem. ;  Gabriel  Bouck,  Dem. ;  Herman  L.  Humphrey,  Rep. ;  Thaddeus 
C.  Pound,   Rep. 

Forty-seventh  Congress  (1881-83)— Charles  G.  Williams,  Rep. ;  Lucien  B. 
Caswell,  Rep.;  Geo.  C.  Hazelton,  Rep.;  Peter  V.  Deuster,  Dem.;  Edward  S. 
Bragg,  Dem. ;  Richard  Guenther,  Rep. ;  Herman  L.  Humphrey,  Rep. ;  Thaddeus 
C.    Pound,    Rep. 

Forty-eighth  Congress  (1883-85) — John  Wlnans,  Dem. ;  Daniel  H.  Sumner, 
Dem.;  Burr  W.  Jones,  Dem.;  Peter  V.  Deuster,  Dem.;  Joseph  Rankin,  Dem.; 
Gilbert  M.   Woodward,   Dem. ;   William  T.   Price,   Rep. ;   Isaac  Stephenson,   Rep. 

Forty-ninth  Congress  (1885-87) — Lucien  B.  Caswell,  Rep. ;  Edward  S.  Bragg, 
Dem. ;  Robert  M.  La  Follette,  Rep. ;  Isaac  W.  Van  Schaick,  Rep. ;  Joseph  Rankin, 
Dem.  (died  Jan.  24,  1886,  and  Thomas  R.  Hudd,  Dem.,  elected  in  his  place); 
Richard  Guenther,  Rep.;  Ormsby  B.  Thomas,  Rep.;  William  T.  Price,  Rep. 
(died  Dec.  7,  1866,  and  Hugh  H.  Price  elected  in  his  place);  Isaac  Stephenson, 
Rep. 

Fiftieth  Congress  (1887-89)— Lucien  B.  Caswell,  Rep. ;  Richard  Guenther, 
Rep.;  Robert  La  Follette,  Rep.;  Henry  Smith,  Populist;  Thomas  R.  Hudd,  Dem.;' 
Charles  B.  Clark,  Rep.;  Ormsby  B.  Thomas,  Rep.;  Nils  P.  Haugen,  Rep.; 
Isaac  Stephenson,  Rep. 

Fifty-first  Congress  (1889-91) — Lucien  B.  Caswell,  Rep.;  Charles  Barwig, 
Dem. ;  Robert  M.  La  Follette,  Rep. ;  Isaac  W.  Van  Schaick,  Rep. ;  George  H. 
Brickner,  Dem.;  Charles  B.  Clark,  Rep.;  Ormsby  B.  Thomas,  Rep.;  Nils  P. 
Haugen,   Rep.;   Myron  H.    McCord,    Rep. 

Fifty-second  Congress  (1891-93)— Clinton  Babbitt,  Dem. ;  Charles  Barwig, 
Dem. ;  Allen  M.  Bushnell,  Dem. ;  John  L.  Mitchell,  Dem. ;  George  H.  Brickner, 
Dem.;  Lycurgus  Miltiades  Miller,  Dem.;  Frank  P.  Coburn,  Dem.;  Nils  P.  Hau- 
gen,   Rep. :    Thomas    Lynch,    Dem. 

Fifty-third  Congress,  (1893-95)— H.  A.  Cooper,  Rep. ;  Charles  Barwig,  Dem. ; 
Joseph  W.  Babcock,  Rep. ;  John  L.  Mitchell,  Dem.  (resigned  Feb.  10,  1893,  and 
Peter  J.  Somers,  Dem.,  elected  in  his  place);  George  H.  Brickner,  Dem.;  Owen 
A.  Wells,  Dem. ;  George  B.  Shaw,  Rep.  (died  Aug.  27,  1894,  and  Michael  Griffin 
elected  in  his  place) ;  Lyman  E.  Barnes,  Dem. ;  Thomas  Lynch,  Dem. ;  Nils  P. 
Haugen,   Rep. 

Fifty-fourth  Congress  (1895-97) — Henry  A.  Cooper,  Rep. ;  Edward  Sauer- 
hering.  Rep. ;  Joseph  W.  Babcock,  Rep. ;  Theobald  Otjen,  Rep. ;  Samuel  S. 
Barney,  Rep.;  Samuel  A.  Cook,  Rep.;  Michael  Griffin,  Rep.;  Edward  S.  Minor, 
Rep.;  Alexander  Stewart,  Rep.:  John  J.  Jenkins,   Rep. 

Fifty-fifth  Congress  (1897-99)— Henry  A.  C^ooper,  Rep. ;  Edward  Sauerhering, 
Rep. ;  Joseph  W.  Babcock,  Rep. ;  Theobald  Otjen,  Rep. ;  S.  S.  Barney,  Rep. ; 
James  H.  Davidson,  Rep.;  Michael  Griffin,  Rep.;  Edward  S.  Minor,  Rep.; 
Alexander  Stewart,   Rep.;  John  J.   Jenkins,   Rep. 

Charles  A.  Eldredge  became  a  national  character  on  the  floor 
of  congress.    He  was  known  as  .the  "Great  Objector." 

Gen.    Bragg    added    in    congress    to    the    reputation    that    had 
preceded  him  there  as  commander  of  the  Iron  brigade.     His  speech 
which   attracted    most   attention   was   a   scatching   denunciation    of ' 
"coffee  coolers"  who  were  seeking  pensions. 

Richard  Guenther  Vvas  one  of  less  than  half  a  dozen  men  who 
have  represented  districts  wherein  they  did  not  reside.  Gen.  Bragg, 
after  a  bitter  campaign  in  the  old  Second  district,  had  been  defeated 
for  the  Democratic  nomination  by  Arthur  K.  Delaney.  The  district 
was  overwhelmingly  Democratic.  Richard  Guenther  of  Oshkosh, 
residing  in  another  district,  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  in 
opposition,  and  local  considerations  created  such  a  political  revolt 
that  he  was  elected  by  an  immense  majority. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  299 

Doubtless  the  event  that  brought  a  Wisconsin  congressman  to 
the  attention  of  the  country  more  conspicuously  than  any  other 
was  the  exciting  episode  that  gave  John  F.  Potter  the  sobriquet  of 
"Bowie-Knife  Potter."  During  the  exciting  days  when  the  country 
was  on  the  verge  of  civil  war,  bitter  words  in  congress  sometimes 
led  to  dueling.  On  one  occasion  there  was  a  personal  encounter 
on  the  floor  of  the  house.  Potter  went  to  the  rescue  of  one  of  his 
colleagues,  and  his  sturdy  blows  created  havoc  among  the  Southern 
fire-eaters.  London  Punch  published  a  clever  parody  concerning 
this  event,  and  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  has  included  it  in  the 
collection  of  poems  edited  by  "him.  It  was  some  time  after  this, 
and  for  an  altogether  different  cause,  that  Congressman  Pryor 
challenged  Congressman  Potter  to^  mortal  combat.  The  latter 
accepted  the  challenge,  and  as  the  challenged  party,  chose  bowie 
knives  as  the  weapons.  This  was  more  than  Pryor  had  bargained 
for,  and  the  duel  never  took  place.  Mr.  Potter  became  known 
all  over  the  country  as  "Bowie-Knife  Potter."  He  is  still  living 
on  the  farm  in  Walworth  county  where  he  first  made  his  home 
sixty  years  ago. 

The  following  have  served  as  speakers  of  the  assembly  since 
the  first  session  of  the  state  legislature: 

Speakers— Ninian  E.  Whitesides,  Belmont,  1848;  Harrison  C.  Hobart,  She- 
boygan, 1849;  Moses  M.  Strong,  Aiineial  Point,  I80O;  Fredericlt  M.  Horn,  Cedar- 
burg,  1851,  1854,  1875;  James  M.  Shatter,  Sheboygan,  1852;  Henry  L.  Palmer, 
Milwaukee,  1853;  Charles  C.  Sholes,  Kenosha,  1855;  William  Hull,  Potosl,  1856; 
Wyman  Spooner,  Elkhorn,  1857;  Frederick  S.  Lovell,  Kenosha,  1858;  William 
Penn  Lyon,  Racine,  1859,  1860;  Amasa  Cobb,  Mineral  Point,  1861;  James  W. 
Beardsley,  Prescott,  1862;  J.  Allen  Barber,  Lancaster,  1863;  William  W.  Field, 
Fennimore,  1864,  1865;  Henry  D.  Barron,  St.  Croix  Falls,  1866,  1873;  Angus  Cam- 
eron, La  Crosse,  1867;  Alexander  M.  Thomson,  Janesville,  1868,  1869;  James  M. 
Bingham,  Palmyra,  1870;  William  E.  Smith,  Fox  Lake,  1871;  Daniel  Hall,  Water- 
town,  1872;  Gabe  Bouck,  Oshkosh,  1874;  Samuel  S.  Fifield,  Ashland,  1875;  John 
B.  Cassoday.  Janesville,  1877;  Augustus  R.  Barrows,  Chippewa  Falls,  1878;  David 
M.  Kelly,  Green  Bay,  1879;  Alexander  A.  Arnold,  Galesville,  1880;  Ira  B. 
Bradford,  Augusta,  1881;  Franklin  L.  Gilson,  Ellsworth,  1882;  Earl  P.  Finch, 
Oshkosh,  18S3;  Hiram  O.  Fairchild,  Marinette,  1885;  Thomas  B.  Mills,  Black 
River  Falls,  J887,  1889;  James  J.  Hogan,  La  Crosse,  1891;  Edward  Keogh.  Mil- 
waukee, 1893;  George  B.  Burrows,  Madison,  1895;  George  Buckstaff,  Oshkosh, 
1897 

Three   political    events  have   occurred    during   the    last    decade 

whose  results  have  attracted  attention  all  over  the  country.  In 
1889  a  member  of  the  assembly  from  Iowa  county  introduced  a 
compulsory  school  attendance  bill,  which  subsequently  took  his 
name  and  became  known  as  the  Bennett  law.  Months  after  its 
passage  it  was  discovered  that  one  of  its  provisions  required  every 
child  to  be  taught  a  certain  amount  of  English.  There  are  in 
the  state  many  parochial  schools  conducted  under  the  auspices  of 
Lutheran  and  Catholic  church  organizations.  The  parents  of  chil- 
dren attending  these  schools  became  alarmed,  believing  that  the 
state  control  of  private  schools  was  aimed  at,  and  that  parental 
rights  were  to  be  trampied  upon.  This  was  the  section  of  the  law 
that  aroused  their  opposition: 

"No  school  shall  be  regarded  as  a  school  under  this  act,  unless 
there  shall  be  taught  therein,  as  part  of  the  elementary  education  of 


300  Leading  Events  of  Wiscomin  History. 

children,  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  United  States  history  in 
the   English  language." 

A  tiemendous  upheaval  followed.  The  Republican  party  was 
swept  to  overwhelming  defeat  at  the  next  election.  The  Democrats 
promptly  repealed  the  law. 

For  many  years  the  treasurers  of  the  state  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  loaxiing  the  funds  entrusted  to  them,  retaining  the  interest. 
The  attorney-general,  in  1891,  instituted  suit  to  recover  these 
interest  moneys.  The  treasurers  made  legal  resistance,  but  were 
beaten  in  the  courts.  During  the  year  1893  judgments  for  nearly 
half  a  million  dollars  were  entered  against  the  three  preceding 
state  treasurers.  The  amount  represented  the  sums  received  by 
the  former  state  treasurers,  and  interest  thereon  at  7  per  cent. 
Two  state  treasurers  whose  teiTns  antedated  thirteen  years  were 
released  by  the  legislature  from  their  obligations.  In  their  cases 
the  interest  on  the  interest  far  exceeded  the  original  amount. 

When  the  Bennett  law  ferment  placed  the  Democrats  in  control 
of  the  state  after  having  looked  over  the  fence  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  they  redistricted  the  legislative  districts  so  as  to 
insure  control  of  the  legislature  even  in  case  of  a  minority  vote. 
The  gerrymander  had  been  a  political  expedient  for  many  years, 
but  now  for  the  first  time  a  Supreme  court  set  aside  a  legislative 
apportionment  as  void  on  constitutional  grounds.  A  test  case 
was  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  judicial  decision. 
The  language  of  the  justices  was  exceedingly  severe  in  character- 
izing the  unfairness  of  the  gerrymander.  A  special  session  of  the 
legislature  was  called  by  the  governor  to  reapportion  the  state. 
Another  gerrymander  was  the  result.  Again  was  the  Supreme 
court  appealed   to,  and  again  was  the  apportionment  set  aside. 

The  result  of  the  treasury  and  the  gerrjTnander  cases  influenced 
similar  action  in  many  states  in  all  sections  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MAY      RIOTS      OF     '86. 

In  the  early  May  days  of  1886  a  reign  of  terror  existed  in  the 
city  of  Milwaukee.  Idle  workmen  paraded  the  streets;  men  willing 
to  work  were  urged  to  join  the  demonstration  and  in  many  cases 
compelled  to  do  so;  crowds  armed  with  paving  blocks,  billets  and 
other  improvised  weapons  of  the  street  overturned  hucksters' 
stands,  Invaded  manufacturing  establishments  and  even  attacked 
them.  As  the  riotous  proceedings  grew  to  large  proportions  and 
the  city  seemed  about  to  be  stretched  at  the  mercy  of  a  mob, 
a  deadly  fire  from  the  rifles  of  state  militiamen  was  poured  into  a 
crowd  of  Polish  workmen  and  ended  the  lawlessness  which  had 
threatened  to  grow  beyond  control.  The  incidents  were  contem- 
Ix)raneous  with  the  tragic  massacre  of  the  Haymarket  in  Chicago. 

Off  in  the  East  there  appeared  about  Christmastide  the  year 
before  a  cloud  seemingly  no  larger  than  a  man's  hand;  by  spring- 
time the  entire  sky  was  overcast  and  the  storm  center  was  over 
Chicago  and  Milwaukee.  Several  years  before,  the  Federation  of 
Trades,  in  national  convention,  had  adopted  resolutions  advising 
all  labor  organizations  "to  so  direct  their  laws  that  eight  hours 
should  constitute  a  legal  day's  work  on  and  after  May  1,  1886." 
The  Knights  of  Labor,  hitherto  a  weak  and  struggling  organization, 
took  up  the  eight-hour  cry,  and  soon  developed  an  enormous  mem- 
bership. In  "Wisconsin  the  working  classes  were  exceedingly 
responsive.  Robert  Schilling  became  state  organizer,  and  his  ener- 
getic work  resulted  in  an  enormous  accession  of  members.  In  their 
declaration  of  principles,  the  Knights  advocated  shortening  the 
hours  of  labor  "by  a  general  refusal  to  work  for  more  than  eight 
hours."  The  slogan,  "eight  hours'  work  and  ten  hours'  pay" 
appealed  with  irresistible  force  to  the  great  mass  of  unskilled 
laborers  especially.  The  Knights  of  Labor  took  into  their  fold  all 
who  called  themselves  workmen;  even  women  were  importuned  to 
join  and  assemblies  were  organized  for  them. 

The  Central  Labor  union,  a  Socialistic  organization,  joined  In 
the  agitation  and  also  secured  many  members.  At  its  head  was 
Paul  Grottkau,  editor  of  The  Arbeiter-Zeitung.  He  had  but  recently 
come  from  Germany,  and  threw  himself  into  the  movement  with 
an  energy  that  gave  him  a  large  and  devoted  personal  following. 
Possessing  a  remarkable  gift  of  oratory,  he  was  able  to  sway 
his  followers  as  he  wished.  Thus,  while  the  union  had  a  membership 
materially  smaller  than  the  Knights  of  Labor,  the  workmen  affili- 
ated with  the  organization  were  as  conspicuous  in  the  movement. 
When  threatened  anarchy  was  succeeded  by  order,  the  arm  of  the 
law  fell  heaviest  on  its  members. 


S02 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


Between  the  leaders  of  the  two  organizations  there  was  much 
bitter  rivalry  that  found  expression  in  the  columns  of  their  respect- 
ive newspapers.  Personal  antagonism  did  not,  however,  prevent 
common  action  in  prosecuting  the  eight-hour  movement. 

More  than  3,000  persons  attended  a  great  preliminary  mass 
meeting  on  the  west  side,  and  the  aldermen  were  urged  to  manifest 
their  sympathy  by  passing  an  ordinance  fixing  a  day's,  work  at 
eight  hours  for  all  day-laborers  in  the  city's  employ.  Impressed 
by  the  demonstration,  the  aldermen  complied  with  such  haste  as 
to   suggest   that    political    fear   prompted   their   action.     But   one 


Paul,  Grottkau. 
Leader  of  the  Socialists  in  1886. 

negative  vote  was  recorded.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  but  a  few 
weeks  later  when  the  eight-hour  day  commotion  had  subsided, 
th©  same  aldermen  voted  to  repeal  the  ordinance. 

Shortly  after,  three  large  tobacco  manufacturing  firms  acceded 
to  the  demands  of  their  men  and  introduced  the  eight-hour 
schedule.  It  now  seemed  as  if  nothing  could  withstand  the  move- 
ment, and  that  on  May  1  all  employers  would  be  compelled  to 
inaugurate  the  new  system.  The  organization  of  Knights  of  Labor 
assemiblies  went  on  at  a  remarkable  rate.  More  than  10,000  mem- 
bers were  counted  in  Milwaukee.  At  Marinette,  Oconto  and  Peshtigo 
the  men  engaged  in  lumber  industries  joined  the  Knights  in  large 
numbers. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  303 


Believing  that  the  concession  of  an  eight-hour  day  from  Edward 
P.  Allis,  in  whose  immense  worlds  more  than  a  thousand  men 
were  employed,  would  operate  powerfully  in  inducing  smaller  con- 
cerns to  follow,  it  was  planned  to  ask  Mr.  Allis  for  such  a  work-day 
before  the  fateful  first  aay  of  May.  Coupled  with  this  proposition 
was  a  demand  for  a  25  per  cent,  increase  in  wages.  The  request 
was  presented  in  April.  Mr.  Allis  agreed  to  eight  hours  for  a  day's 
work,  but  gave  his  reasons  why  he  could  not  increase  wages,  except 
in  the  case  of  common  laborers.  Although  a  committee  of 
employees,  after  a  conference,  decided  that  Mr.  Allis  was  justified 
in  his  course,  the  radicals  repudiated  the  agreement  entered  into 
by  their  representatives.  The  conservative  workmen  stood  by  their 
committee  and  the  firm.  The  result  was  that  many  timid 
employers  were  emboldened  to  follow  the  same  course  in  dealing 
with  their  employees. 

On  all  sides  there  was  a  feeling  of  suppressed  excitement  when 
May  1  dawned.  In  Milwaukee  the  idle  workmen  on  this  day  in- 
cluded about  7,000  persons,  mainly  belonging  to  the  following 
classes:  Brewery  employes,  journeymen  carpenters,  shop  tailors 
and  their  helpers,  clothing  cutters,  cigarmakers,  broommakers,  and 
about  2,000  common  laborers.  The  events  of  the  subsequent  few 
days  increased  the  number  to  about  16,000. 

May  1  occurred  on  a  Saturday.  There  was  no  demonstration, 
but  the  following  day  a  monster  picnic  had  been  planned  by  the 
Central  Labor  union.  Several  thousand  men  marched,  and  a  few 
red  flags  were  carried  in  the  procession — an  omen  of  what  was  to 
come.  Some  of  the  mottoes  and  sentiments  on  banners  and  stand- 
ards tended  to  alarm  people,  who  looked  with  forebodings  to  the 
events  of  the  coming  week: 

'•Right  and  law  often  differ  materially  from  each  other." 

"The  idolaters  of  the  golden  calf  must  be  downed." 

"Keep  yourself,  and  God  will  then  keep  you.  Realize  this,  man,  and  end 
your  sufferings." 

"They  used  to  call  it  overproduction;   now  we  shall  consume  some   more." 

"The  Republic  shall  have  no  ruler;  not  even  King  Mammon." 

"Capital  must  come  down  from  its  high  horse." 

"We  have  come  to  the  cross-roads.  Honest  workmen  will  follow  the  way. 
Mark  the  rats.     Eight  hours." 

"Capital  is  the  product  of  labor;  not  its  master." 

Many  other  sentiments  of  like  tenor  were  displayed. 

Monday  dawned;  a  general  striKe  at  the  breweries  was  ordered. 
A  thousand  men  marched  to  Falk's  establishment  and  insisted  that 
the  unwilling  workmen  must  join  them.  In  many  establishments 
the  workmen  marched  out  in  a  body;  in  most  of  them  the  demand 
was  for  higher  pay  and  shorter  hours.  By  evening  14,000  bread- 
winners were  out  of  work. 

It  was  during  the  afternoon  of  this  day  that  the  first  lawless- 
ness  occurred.     The  unskilled    Polish   laborers   had   thrown   them- 


304  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 

selves  into  the  eight-hour  movement  with  immense  enthusiasm. 
They  were  deluded  into  believing  that  all  wage  workers  would 
simultaneously  quit  work  on  the  day  agreed  upon,  and  that  none 
of  them  would  resume  work  until  the  entire  brotherhood  of  work- 
men were  enabled  to  return  on  the  same  conditions.  They  loj'ally 
carried  out  what  they  regarded  as  their  part  of  the  agreement. 
"When  they  learned  that  hundreds  of  workmen  had  remained  at 
their  places  they  became  enraged.  They  believed  they  had  been 
basely  betrayed.  In  this  temper,  the  few  anarchists  who  lived  in 
Milwaukee  and  made  up  in  activity  what  they  lacked  in  numbers, 
found  the  Polish  workmen  ductile  material.  The  impressionable 
Slavs  readily  agreed  that  all  workmen  who  had  not  struck  for  eight 
hours  at  the  appointed  time  had  proven  false  and  must  either 
abandon  their  jobs  or  suffer  the  consequences. 

On  Monday  afternoon,  May  3,  the  trouble  began.  Some  1,400 
men  were  working  at  the  railway  shops  in  the  Menomonee  valley. 
Several  hundred  Poles  appeared  here  and  called  upon  them  to  quit 
work.  This  the  employees  refused  to  do.  A  conflict  seemed  immi- 
nent; the  handful  of  deputy  sheriffs  who  came  to  the  rescue  deemed 
it  suicidal  to  resist  the  riotous  marchers,  and  induced  the  employees 
of  the  shops  to  leave  the  premises.  The  mob  gave  a  shout  of  ex- 
ultation and  marched  to  the  city,  augmenting  in  numbers  as  they 
proceeded.  They  followed  the  track  of  the  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
railway,  and  reached  the  freight  yards.  A  dash  was  made  for  tha 
freight  warehouse,  but  the  iron  doors  clanged  in  their  faces,  and 
their  sticks  and  stones  struck  powerless  against  the  unbroken  wall 
of  brick  and  metal. 

Some  one  shouted,  "On  to  the  Allis  works,"  and  thither  the 
mob  pursued  its  march,  the  men  yelling,  "Eight  hours,"  "Eight 
hours,"  as  they  went.  "While  a  self-constituted  committee  entered 
the  main  doorway  to  demand  that  all  the  men  join  the  idlers,  the 
crowd  waited  outside.  In  a  few  minutes  the  committee  came  out  of 
the  entrance  in  much  haste  and  in  miscellaneous  disorder.  The 
brawny  muscle  of  the  iron  workers  was  the  motive  power  that 
hastened  their  exit.  A  shout  of  anger  went  up  and  a  hail  of  stones 
rattled  against  the  sides  of  the  Reliance  Iron  works.  Sticks  were 
brandished,  and  a  simultaneous,  but  disorganized,  move  was  made 
to  enter  the  main  doorway.  Bloodshed  was  imminent;  at  this  junc- 
ture the  doors  of  the  main  entrance  were  thrown  wide  open  and  in 
the  shadow  was  seen  a  crowd  of  iron  workers  dragging  a  wriggling 
section  of  hose.  An  instant  later  a  stream  of  hissing  water  en- 
countered the  leaders  of  the  assault,  and  men  toppled  helplessly  all 
over  the  street.  The  catapult  power  of  the  stream  shot  some  of 
the  men  clear  across  the  street.  'Wet,  bruised  and  discouraged,  they 
picked  themselves  up;  a  few  angrily  advanced  a  second  time  to 
assault  the  defenders  of  the  works,  only  to  come  in  contact  with 


The  Story  of  the  State.  305- 

the  vigorous  stream  of  water  and  to  fly  helplessly  back  into  the 
anns  of  their  companions.  At  this  juncture  two  patrol  wagons- 
hove  in  sight,  and  a  score  of  policemen  jumped  into  the  midst  of 
the  crowd  and  completed  the  rout  by  hammering  right  and  left 
with  their  clubs  of  stout  hickory. 

There  was  now  the  utmost  consternation  in  the  city.  The 
authority  of  law  trembled  in  the  balance.  Mayor  Emil  Wallber 
advised  Mr.  Allis  to  close  his  works  and  this  was  done.  Gov.  Jere- 
miah Rusk  was  notified  by  wire  of  the  situation  and,  accompanied 
by  his  military  advisers,  hastened  from  Madison  to  Milwaukee  on  a 
special  train.  Several  regiments  of  the  National  guard  were  or- 
dered to  be  ready  to  respond  at  a  moment's  notice.  That  night  the 
authorities  slumbered  on  the  thin  crust  of  a  volcano. 

Long  before  the  bells  in  the  double  towers  of  St.  Stanislaus 
church  struck  the  hour  of  6  o'clock,  Tuesday  morning,  men  with 
sullen  faces  gathered  in  its  vicinity.  All  carried  clubs.  At  about 
7  o'clock  six  or  seven  hundred  men  moved  as  if  by  preconcerted 
action  in  the  direction  of  t.ie  rolling  mills  in  Bay  View.  On  the 
way  they  came  to  a  trench  dug  by  sewer  diggers.  These  men  were 
compelled  to  join  the  strikers,  and  their  shovels  were  labeled  with 
chalk,  in  letters  as  large  as  their  size  would  permit: 

"8  HOURS." 

At  the  railroad  tracks  one  of  the  leaders  mounted  a  sidetracked 
freight  car  and  made  an  impassioned  harangue.  In  the  valley  the 
smoke  from  chimneys  denoted  that  men  were  busy  in  a  number  of 
establishments.  These  were  unceremoniously  entered  and  the  work- 
men were  forced  to  yield  to  the  order,  "Close  down,"  and  to 
march  along. 

At  the  rolling  mills  the  coming  of  the  men  had  been  espied 
from  a  distance,  and  an  urgent  message  by  telephone  had  been 
sent  to  the  authorities  at  the  Squadron  armory.  On  receipt  of  the 
message,  the  firebells  rang  the  signal  agreed  upon  to  call  the 
militiamen  to  their  dutj'.  Before  the  National  guardsmen  had  all 
responded  and  could  be  transported  to  Bay  Blew,  some  hours 
elapsed.  The  rolling  mill  officials  in  the  meantime  received  a 
deputation  of  the  mob,  and  to  gain  time  kept  them  in  consultation — 
ostensibly  to  decide  upon  conditions  for  shutting  down  the  works. 
While  this  conference  was  in  progress  a  man  on  the  roof  anxiously 
scanned  the  road  leading  cityward  to  give  early  notice  of  the 
coming  of  the  militia.  The  crowd  that  surrounded  the  little  office 
outside  the  fence-encircled  iron  works  for  some  time  patiently 
awaited  the  outcome  of  the  conference,  but  finally  grew  demon- 
strative. At  this  juncture  Robert  Schilling,  the  recognized  leader 
of  the  Knights  in  Wisconsin,  appeared  and  made  a  speech  coun- 
seling them  to  make  no  lawless  demonstration  and  bitterly  attack- 
ing  the    anarchists    who    were    spurring    the    deluded    men    on    to 


506 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


their  destruction.  He  had  hardly  ceased  speaking  when  a  train 
■came  speeding  along,  stopped,  and  emptied  into  the  midst  of  the 
astonished  workmen  four  companies  of  National  guardsmen. 
There  was  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  the  short  sharp  commands 
■of  the  officers  were  almost  drowned  by  the  jeers  of  the  crowd, 
now  numbering  at  least  a  thousand  men. 

What  angered  the  crowd  more  than  anything  was  the  fact  that 
•one  of  the  companies — the  Kosciusko  guard — was  composed  of  their 
countrymen.  As  the  soldiers  were  formed  in  line  and  marched 
through  the  midst  of  the  increasing  crowd,  taunts  and  insults  and 
raised  sticks  and  clubs  gave  undeniable  evidence  of  the  warlike 
temper  of  the  mob.    Soon  a  stone  whistled  through  the  air  and  a 


Robert  Schilling. 
Knights  of  Labor  Organizer  in  188& 


member  of  the  Kosciusko  guard  picked  up-  his  smashed  helmet. 
As  the  crowd  grew  more  demonstrative,  it  was  deemed  prudent 
to  withdraw  the  militia  to  the  area  within  the  high  board  fence. 
The  huge  gates  were  opened,  and  they  marched  in.  The  Kosciusko 
guard  brought  up  the  rear.  As  the  last  men  were  about  to  pass 
within  the  gates,  a  shower  of  stones  and  other  missiles  followed 
them.  Many  of  them  were  struck  in  the  back  and  on  the  head. 
As  if  by  common  impulse,  the  men  turned,  leveled  their  rifles  at 
the  crowd  and  a  volley  of  bullets  sped  along.  Many  of  the  mob, 
as  they  saw  the  rifles  aimed,  threw  themselves  flat  upon  the  ground, 
others  sought  shelter  behind  woodpiles  and  telegraph  posts  and 
fences.  Notwithstanding,  it  seemed  providential  that  the  ground 
was  not  strewn  with  dead  and  dying.     Many  buildings  in  range  of 


The  Story  of  the  State.  307 


the  rifles  were  perforated  by  the  bullets,  but  not  one  person  was 
wounded  by  the  volley.  The  gates  were  hastily  shut,  and  the  dis- 
orderly attack  on  the  militia  was  converted  into  a  siege.  A  few 
belated  soldiers  who  came  out  to  join  their  comrades  were  chased 
a  long  distance  by  some  of  the  strikers,  but  escaped  capture. 
Towards  night  the  mob  gradually  grew  thinner  and  dispersed. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Central  Labor  union  had  called  its  mem- 
bers to  assemble  at  Milwaukee  garden,  which  was  regarded  as  the 
Socialistic  headquarters.  After  listening  to  a  speech  by  Paul 
Grottkau,  the  men  formed  in  line,  a  thousand  strong,  and  marched 
to  Brand's  Stove  works.  The  firm  had  granted  all  the  demands  of 
the  men;  notwithstanding,  the  employees  were  compelled  to  throw 
down  their  tools  and  walk  out.  An  attack  on  the  bakeries  was 
deferred  until  the  day  following.  The  police  dispersed  the  second 
gathering. 

The  city  was  now  convulsed  with  terror.  To  add  to  the  alarm, 
It  was  noticed  that  on  doorways,  on  sidewalks  and  on  the  sides  of 
houses  adjacent  to  the  streets  mysterious  figures  and  devices  were 
scribbled  in  chalk.  They  were  all  of  uniform  character,  except 
the  numbers,   like  this: 


5  3198 

5  4 

8x 


5354  8:30 


The  marks  were  inoffensive  enough,  had  they  been  understood; 
it  was  the  method  pursued  by  the  Knights  to  notify  their  members 
of  the  date  and  hour  of  meeting  of  the  respective  assemblies;  but 
this  was  not  known  outside  the  ranks  of  the  knights,  and  it  was 
assumed  that  the  town  was  about  to  be  put  to  the  torch  and  all 
its  inhabitants  slaughtered. 

Following  unsigned  notice  was  scattered  broadcast  on  the  after- 
noon of  May  5,  and  the  leaders  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  conspic- 
uously wore  blue  ribbons  on  the  lapels  of  their  coats: 

"Every  Knight  of  Labor  is  hereby  asked  by  the  Executive 
board  to  keep  away  from  all  public  meetings  that  are  held  at  this 
time.  Every  member  is  ordered  to  wear  a  blue  badge  or  ribbon 
as  a  token  of  peace  and  order.  At  the  same  time  we  request  all 
Knights  of  Labor  to  remain  at  their  work  or  at  their  homes,  and 
in  all  cases  assist  the  authorities  in  protecting  life  and  property." 

It  was  too  late.  The  feverish  excitement  of  the  last  three  days 
had  carried  many  of  the  workingmen  beyond  control. 

The  tragic  end  came  on  Wednesday.  Early  in  the  morning 
another  crowd  had  gathered  at  the  St.  Stanislaus  church  corner, 
their  purpose  being  to  again  march  to  Bay  View.  There  the  militia- 
men were  still  encamped,  reinforced  by  some  of  the  companies 
from  the  interior  of  the  state.  Gov.  Rusk  had  sent  word  that 
in  case  of  a  repetition  of  mob  tactics,   the  soldiers  should   shoot 


308  Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


to  kill.  When  the  commanding  officer,  Maj.  George  P.  Traeumer, 
saw  the  mob  advancing  up  the  road  he  massed  his  troops  so  as  to 
block  the  roadway.  He  waved  his  hand  to  the  mob  in  warning 
not  to  approach  nearer.  The  mob  was  then  a  thousand  yards  away. 
Either  they  did  not  understand  the  officer's  warning,  or  were 
emboldened  not  to  heed  it  as  a  result  of  the  previous  day's  harmless 
Tolley.  If  they  believed  the  soldiers  would  fire  blank  cartridges, 
they  were  quickly  undeceived.  Maj.  Traeumer  gave  the  word  and 
two  companies  discharged  their  rifles  in  the  direction  of  the  mob. 
Panic  seized  the  crowd  as  they  saw  their  comrades  fall,  some  dead 
and  some  terribly  wounded.  How  many  bullets  took  effect  will 
never  be  known.  As  the  crowd  dispersed  they  carried  their 
wounded  with  them. 

It  is  known  that  eight  fatalities  resulted.  Among  the  dis- 
tressing casualties  were  the  shooting  of  an  old  man  of  70  while 
feeding  the  chickens  in  his  yard,  and  of  a  young  schoolboy,  who 
was  in  the  ranks  of  the  marchers  wnen  the  soldiers  fired. 

The  terrible  events  at  Bay  View  ended  the  riotous  demonstra- 
tions. Some  of  the  anarchists  and  Socialists  were  arrested,  and 
a  few  of  them  were  sentenced  to  hard  labor  in  the  House  of 
Correction  on  the  charge  of  "riot  and  conspiracy";  among  them 
was  Paul  Grottkau.  Many  leading  Knights  of  Labor,  including 
Robert  Schilling,  were  also  arrested  for  boycotting  under  the  law 
of  conspiracy,  but  the  cases  were  not  tried. 

The  disturbances  had  lasted  less  than  a  week.  The  volley 
that  struck  down  the  mob  at  Bay  View  likewise  killed  the  agitation 
for  eight  hours.  Men  returned  to  work  without  renewing  their 
demands;  factories  and  workshops  resumed  operations;  but  for  many 
months  thereafter  a  boycott  was  maintained,  despite  the  arrest  of 
a  score  of  Knights  for  conspiracy.  Members  of  the  Kosciusko  guard 
found  themselves  ostracized  by  their  compatriots,  and  those  in 
business  were  almost  ruined.  It  took  years  to  efface  the  enmity 
evolved  by  their  response  to  duty  when  the  call  to  arms  was  a 
summons  to  face  neighbors  and  friends  with  leveled  rifles. 

On  numerous  occasions  have  the  chief  executives  of  the  state 
been  asked  to  intervene  in  labor  troubles  by  calling  out  the  National 
guard.  But  twice,  besides  the  May  riots  of  '86,  have  they  done  so. 
In  1881,  striking  mill  men  at  Eau  Claire  threatened  to  destroy 
the  property  of  their  employers.  Gov.  Wm.  E.  Smith  dispatched 
several  companies  of  muitia  to  the  scene,  and  the  "saw-dust  war," 
as  it  was  called,  ended  without  bloodshed.  It  was  in  this  same 
year  that  all  the  cigarmakers  in  Milwaukee  went  out  on  strike. 

In  1889  there  was  a  serious  strike  of  laborers  at  West  Superior. 
Their  attitude  was  so  menacing  that  the  governor  deemed  it  pru- 
dent to  send  National  guardsmen  to  the  North  Wisconsin  metrop- 
olis.    Their  presence  restored  quiet. 


The  Story  of  the  State.  309 


Early  in  Gov.  Rusk's  administration,  railroad  workmen  em- 
ployed in  the  construction  of  the  Superior  Air  line  grew  violent 
because  they  had  not  received  their  pay  and  were  on  the  point  of 
starvation.  Gov.  Rusk  was  asked  to  call  out  the  militia.  He 
investigated  the  trouble,  declared  that  the  men  were  entitled  to 
bread  and  not  bullets,  and  compelled  the  contractors  to  live  up 
to  their  agreement  with  the  men. 

The  great  street  railway  strike  of  1896,  in  Milwaukee,  attracted 
attention  all  over  the  country  by  reason  of  the  remarkable  boycott 
that  was  waged  for  several  weeks.  To  enforce  a  demand  for  more 
wages,  the  motor  men  and  conductors  left  their  cars,  and  declared 
a  boycott.  The  public  sympathetically  w^alked  or  rode  in  'buses 
and  ancient  vehicles  imported  in  great  number  from  the  towns 
and  cities  within  a  hundred  miles  of  Milwaukee.  There  was  no 
serious  disturbance,  and  the  strikers  had  the  sympathy  of  the 
community  in  an  unusual  degree.  When  a  car  made  a  trip  at 
irregular  intervals  the  only  passengers  were  policemen  on  guard 
duty.  On  some  days  (Sundays)  not  a  car  moved.  Then  came  a 
boycott  that  bade  fair  to  paralyze  every  industry  in  the  city,  and 
seemed  to  permeate  and  affect  every  business  and  channel  of  life. 
The  result  was  a  great  reaction,  and  the  strike,  while  seemingly 
won,  collapsed. 

"This  boycott  is  .a  marvel,"  wrote  a  newspaper  correspondent. 
"Its  like  has  never  been  seen  before  in  this  or  any  other  country. 
The  condition  into  which  it  has  thrown  a  big  busy  city  stands 
unique  in  the  history  of  the  world  to-day.  King  Boycott  is  absolute 
master  in  Milwaukee.  The  200,000  and  more  human  beings  who  live 
and  toil  in  this  city  are  subject  to  his  scepter.  The  first  blow 
w^as  aimed  at  the  Street  Railway  company,  and  nobody  cared.  The 
sympathetic  people  walked  or  rode  in  nondescript  vehicles  called 
omnibuses,  and  suffered  inconveniences  uncomplainingly.  The  next 
TjIow  hit  officers  of  the  street  railway  company  through  their 
private  enterprises,  and  only  those  directly  interested  suffered. 
Then  the  ban  was  placed  on  all  who  might  offer  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  enemy  by  riding  on  cars,  doing  business  with  its  ofl[icers 
privately  or  doing  business  with  people  who  had  ridden  on  the 
street  cars.  This  final  blow  reached  all  walks  of  life,  all  enterprises, 
all  avocations,  and  was  extended  even  into  the  third  and  fourth 
generations  and  to  relatives  by  marriage.  In  Milwaukee  every 
man  in  the  service  of  King  Boycott  is  a  spy  upon  his  neighbor. 
The  result  is  virtually  a  reign  of  terror.  Business  is  throttled 
almost  to  the  point  of  complete  strangulation." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  GREAT  BOOM  ON  THE  GOGEBIC, 

Old  maps  of  Wisconsin,  dated  years  after  territorial  times  and 
even  long  after  assumption  of  statehood,  mark  the  south  shore  of 
the  Wisconsin  river  as  the  border  of  civilization.  Until  the  last 
two  decades  Northern  Wisconsin  was  considered  a  trackless  wilder- 
ness, broken  only  by  an  occasional  clearing  made  by  a  venturesome 
pioneer,  some  lumber  camps  here  and  there,  and  a  straggling 
hamlet  or  two  at  long  intervals.  The  remarkable  development  of 
the  region  within  this  comparatively  short  time  is  one  of  the 
notable  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  state.  The  discovery  of  mineral 
wealth  gave  the  first  impetus  of  considerable  magnitude  to  this 
rapid  growth.  It  led  to  the  extension  of  railroads  where  for  miles 
there  was  not  a  sign  of  human  habitation;  cities  were  built  in  a 
night,  and  brought  enterprises  that  added  to  population  and  material 
wealth;  tillers  of  the  soil  followed  in  fewer  but  ever  increasing 
numbers;  to-day  Northern  Wisconsin  is  a  region  of  prosperous 
towns  and  thrifty  farms. 

The  story  of  the  great  G-ogebic  boom,  one  of  the  conspicuous 
episodes  in  the  development  of  Northern  Wisconsin,  is  well 
worth   telling. 

The  discovery  of  high-grade  Bessemer  ore  on  the  Gogebic  range 
and  the  consequent  unfolding  of  vast  possibilities  led  to  a  specu- 
lative craze  the  like  of  which  has  had  no'  parallel  in  Wisconsin. 
While  it  lasted,  fortunes  were  made  and  lost  within  a  month — a 
week — it  might  almost  be  said  overnight.  All  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  and  women  were  seized  with  the  mania  to  dump  their 
dollars  into  the  holes  dug  by  the  prospectors,  not  a  few  of  which 
proved  bottomless  pits.  The  country  merchant  and  the  farmer 
invested  blindly  in  mining  stocks,  and  not  a  few  mortgaged  all 
they  had  to  add  a  lot  of  certificates  to  their  holdings;  in  the  cities, 
business  and  professional  men,  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  underpaid 
clerks  and  servant  girls  joined  in  the  grand  scramble  for  riches. 
Men  who  didn't  possess  enough  money  to  pay  a  week's  board  in 
advance  organized  companies  capitalized  for  a  million  or  two, 
and  sold  stock  to  credulous  investors.  Mines  were  sold  at  fabulous 
prices.  The  enterprising  sellers  developed  from  poor  men  to  mining 
kings,  were  rated  as  millionaires,  and  spent  their  money  with  a 
prodigality  that  seemed  to  warrant  the  title.  While  the  boom 
lasted,  especially  in  the  year  1886,  there  seemed  no  limit  to  the 
extravagant  hopes  entertained  by  fortune-seekers. 

"It  is  worth  more  to  the  people  than  to  uncover  the  hidden  gold 
of  Capt.  Kidd  or  to  raise  the  sunken  treasure  of  the  Spanish  Main,'* 

310 


The  Story  of  the  State.  311 


were  the  enthusiastic  words  of  John  E.  Burton  at  a  great  banquet 
given  in  Hurley.  "Like  a  lightning  flash  of  twining  gold,  for  thirty 
miles  its  veins  were  streaked  through  imperishable  granite,  while 
nature,  almost  surprised  at  its  lavish  act,  tenderly  covered  her 
treasure  with  a  hanging  w^all  of  the  gentle  slates.  Between  the 
Quartzite  and  the  trap  of  the  old  Huronian  belt,  the  unfolding  of 
a  beautiful  law  hid  this  boundless  wealth  more  than  a  million 
years  ago,  to  be  found  by  some  bold  but  favored  son,  whose 
daring  deeds  should  be  crowned  and  sceptered  as  a  king  in  the 
metallic  realm." 

The  reign  of  the  mining  king  was  brief — but  splendid.  One 
fortunate  prospector  who  jumped  from  a  meager  crust  of  bread 
to  affluence  that  seemed  limitless,  spent  money  with  reckless  lavish- 
ness.  The  buttons  of  his  coat,  vest  and  trousers  were  diamond- 
studded,  and  the  gems  were  of  the  rarest  size  and  water.  In  each 
of  a  dozen  towns  on  the  range  he  owned  a  handsomely  furnished 
residence.  Another  miner  who  esteemed  himself  worth  millions 
♦evidenced  his  financial  plethora  on  one  occasion  by  paying  $35,000 
for  a  Chicago  book  store,  merely  to  acquire  a  dozen  books  which  he 
wanted  for  his  collection. 

In  the  mining  towns  splendid  brick  blocks  and  palatial  houses 
were  constructed;  newspapers  were  issued  in  sumptuous  editions — 
one  issue  of  The  Gogebic  Iron  Tribune  included  twenty  pages,  was 
printed  on  tinted  paper  in  handsome  style  and  comprised  10,000 
copies.  Newspaper  men  were  carried  to  the  range  in  palace  cars 
to  view  the  properties;  so  were  moneyed  men  from  the  East,  who 
had  been  attracted  by  the  stories  sent  abroad.  Gogebic  stocks  be- 
gan to  be  quoted  in  New  York  and  were  listed  regularly.  Bulletins 
were  issued  daily.  A  stock  exchange  was  opened  in  Milwaukee.  The 
advertisement  that  the  Gogebic  range  received  was  phenomenal. 
In  an  incredibly  short  time  15,000  persons  had  been  attracted  to  the 
range.  The  building  of  Hurley  and  Ironwood  demonstrates  the 
rapid  growth.  The  path  that  was  blazed  through  a  virgin  forest 
from  the  right  of  way  of  the  Lake  Shore  road  to  the  Norrie  mine — 
a  distance  of  half  a  mile — less  than  two  years  later  approximated 
the  main  street  of  a  town  of  4,000  inhabitants  (Ironwood).  The 
miner  who  opened  up  this  property  had  only  a  short  time  before,  in 
going  by  trail  from  Ashland  to  Bessemer,  encamped  overnight  in  an 
old  log  shack  on  the  very  site  of  the  Norrie. 

For  a  distance  of  many  miles  and  wholly  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  vein  of  ore,  prospectors  dug  pits  and  located  mines.  There  was 
not  a  forty  within  half  a  mile  of  the  range  that  was  not  honey- 
combed with  pits  ranging  in  depth  from  10  to  150  feet.  Beautifully- 
engraved  certificates  of  stock  in  a  hundred  or  more  mining  compan- 
ies were  issued  on  the  basis  of  future  finds  and  were  eagerly  pur- 
chased by  people  v/hose  knowledge  of  mining  was  limited  to  a  small 


312 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


vocabulary  of  technical  terms.  They  could  talk  glibly  about  the 
"hanging  wall,"  "running  a  level,"  "drifting  the  vein,"  "cross-cuts," 
and  similar  expressions,  and  they  borrowed  money  from  friends  to 
invest  in  mining  certificates  that  to-day  are  valuable  only  as  sou- 
venirs. 

The  boom  on  the  Gogebic  was  not  all  based  on  great  expecta- 
tions. Tremendous  deposits  of  high  grade  ore  were  uncovered,  and 
gave  a  real  value  to  many  properties.  It  was  an  era  of  vast  railroad 
extension  in  the  United  States,  and  the  displacement  of  wood  by  iron. 


THE   ORE   VEIN   ON   THE    GOGEBIC. 
FROM    AN    OLD    MAP. 

(The  section  of  a  map  of  1886  given  above  shows  where  the  main  properties 
■were  located,  including  the  Norrie,  which  shipped  a  million  tons  of  ore  in  one 
season,  breaking  the  world's  record;  and  the  Aurora,  a  half  share  in  which  was 
sold  for  $600,000  in  cash.) 

for  structural  purposes  was  assuming  large  proportions.  Nor  was- 
the  speculative  boom  based  on  fraud  to  as  large  an  extent  as  was 
afterwards  claimed  by  the  thousands  of  victims  who  were  unable  to 
realize  ten  cents  a  share  for  what  had  cost  them  from  a  dollar  to  ten 
dollars  and  more  a  share.  A  great  deal  of  the  money  that  was  sunk 
in  worthless  properties  was  expended  in  preliminary  work.  It  was 
afterwards  figured  by  an  experienced  miner  that  as  much  money 
was  dumped  into  the  pits  dug  by  the  explorers  as  was  taken  out  by 
the  profitable  properties  in  legitimate  mining.     The  aggregate  must 


The  Story  of  the  State.  313 

be  counted  not  in  hundreds  or  thousands,  but  in  millions.  Those 
who  bought  stock  for  a  quick  turn  realized  handsomely  as  a  rule. 
Those  who  held  on  to  stocks  that  seemed  increasing,  lost  everything 
when  the  great  crash  came.  An  instance  can  be  cited  as  illustrative 
of  the  opportunities  for  quick  returns: 

A  young  man  who  had  recently  gone  to  the  range  from  Mil- 
waukee was  present  when  the  blast  was  fired  that  uncovered  a  large 
deposit  of  ore.  He  rushed  to  a  telephone  and  communicated  with 
a  companion: 

"Get  an  option  on  every  share  in  the  Blank  mine  that  you  are 
able  to  secure  at  current  price,  and  do  it  as  quickly  as  you  can." 

Before  the  news  of  the  aiscovery  of  the  deposit  had  become 
known,  a  hundred  dollars  had  purchased  an  option  on  a  thousand 
shares  of  the  stock  at  $6.25  a  share.  In  less  than  a  week  the  two 
young  men  bad  sold  the  stock  at  $10.25  a  share,  and  divided  a  profit 
of  $4,000  on  a  week's  investment  of  a  hundred  dollars  in  cash. 
This  was  an  actual  transaction,  and  was  but  one  of  many. 
For  awhile  prosperity  came  to  everybody  on  the  range.  Leav- 
ing out  the  salaried  officials,  the  average  pay  of  the  men  at  the  Nor- 
rie  mine  was  $2.37  a  day— and  in  this  average,  covering  a  period  of 
six  months,  are  reckoned  the  wages  paid  the  surface  men,  who  re- 
ceived $1.65  a  day.    Some  of  the  miners  made  $180  a  month. 

On  a  forty-mile  run  of  the  Lake  Shore  road,  from  Ironwood  to 
Ashland,  ore  trains  were  run  at  express  speed.  This  bit  of  railroad 
became  the  best-paying  mileage  in  the  United  States.  Eighteen  tons 
of  ore  made  up  each  car,  forty  cents  a  ton  was  charged  for  this  short 
run  to  the  ore  docks,  and  sometimes  the  same  car  made  the  run 
twice  in  a  day.  Every  car  of  the  many  that  made  up  the  numerous 
ore  trains  thus  brought  a  revenue  of  $14.40  a  day  to  the  railroad 
company,  or  $1,440  for  a  hundred  cars.  It  was  reckoned  that  there 
was  a  profit  of  a  dollar  a  ton  for  every  ton  of  ore  dug  and  sold  dur- 
ing this  period  of  prosperity.  In  one  year  the  Norrie  mine  alone 
shipped  a  trifle  less  than  a  million  tons  of  ore.  Under  such  circum- 
stances it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  those  who  were  "on  the 
ground  floor"  felt  that  they  could  afford  such  extravagances  as 
wearing  costly  diamonds  in  place  of  ordinary  buttons.  The  Colby 
mine  yielded  enormous  profits.  The  Aurora  tempted  an  Eastern 
syndicate  to  pay  $600,000  for  a  half  interest,  or  20,001  shares.  This 
was  $30  for  each  share  of  $25  face  value.  They  increased  the  shares 
to  100,000  and  these  fell  to  but  $27  each  after  this  enormous  inflation. 
Tbe  $600,000  purchase  money  was  deposited  in  cash  in  one  of  the 
Milwaukee  banks. 

Such  were  the  conditions  that  made  everybody  connected  with 
the  range  consider  himself  a  millionaire,  or  a  prospective  million- 
aire In  May,  1S86,  one  year  after  the  commencement  of  the  boom, 
one  of  the  range  newspapers  gave  a  summary  of  the  values  of  the 


314 


Leading  Events  of  Wisconsin  History. 


Gogebic  mines  that  was  regarded  as  entirely  reasonable  and  con- 
servative in  placing  the  total  at  $24,000,000. 

"The  Gogebic  range,  which  a  year  ago  to-day  was  practically 
unknown  and  of  uncertain  and  doubtful  value,"  was  the  editor's 
comment,  "is  to-day  estimated  to  contain  more  wealth  than  the  en- 
tire assessed  valuation  of  some  of  the  oldest  states  in  the  Union." 

The  several  mine  leases  were  estimated  to  be  worth,  as  com- 
mercial property,  the  amounts  given  below: 


Mines. 

Aurora 

Iron     King 

Ashland 

Norrie 

Pabst 

Bonnie 

First  National   and   Geneva. 

Blue    Jacket 

Puritan 

Ironton 

Tontine 

Valley   Mines   (3) 

Colby 

Palms 

Anvil 

Gogebic 

Iron     Prince 

Iron     Sides 

Crown     Point 

Brotherton 

Smith 

Iron  Chief 

Minnewawa 

Germania 

Montreal 

Nimikon 

South  Nimikon 


Value.         Mines.  Value. 

$600,000]  Kakagon 150,000 

400,  OOOJ  Bessemer 100,000' 

650, 000|  Superior 125,000 

800,0001  Odanah  (Puggawaugan) 200,000 

240,000|Ryan 160,000 

320.000  Moore 100  OOO 

320,000|  Wood 60,000 

160.0001  Amazon 200,000 

240,0001  Pence 200,0<X> 

180,0001  Badger  State 100,000 

90,000|Caleddnia 100,000 

480,0001  Laura 60,000 

3,000,000|  Lottie 20,000 

150.000  West  Ryan 50,000 

175,000|Kennon 40,001 

120.0001  Northern  Chief  fee  simple 1,500,000 

40000!  Penokee   &   Gogebic   Develop- 

55,000|    ment  Co.  fee 2,000,000 

50, 000|  Gogebic  Iron  Syndicate 1,000,000 

150  000|  Newport     &     Lake     Superior 

125,0001     Land    Co.    fee 1,000,0)0 

100,000|Lake     Superior     Ship     Canal 

200,0OO|     Co.  fee 5,000,000 

400000|Longyear     &     Co.,      and     all 

2500001     others 2,000.000 

150,0001  

2O00<j|        Total  value $23,165,000 


The  sale  of  the  Bonnie  and  Iron  King  properties  for  $1,200,000 
early  in  1887  was  noted  as  the  third  largest  transaction  up  to  that 
time.  A  colossal  sjmdicate  was  planned  to  obtain  possession  of  the 
richest  mines  on  the  range,  and  financiers  of  national  reputatiou 
were  interested  in  the  enterprise.  Before  the  plans  were  fully  ma- 
tured, the  great  crash  came,  and  values  dwindled  from  millions  to 
thousands.  This  was  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1887.  The  previous 
winter  the  prices  of  stock  had  reached  the  highest  notch.  With  the 
opening  of  navigation  in  the  spring,  expected  ore  shipments  "ould 
not  be  made  from  some  mines  because  there  was  no  ore  there  to 
ship;  from  others  because  there  were  no  facilities  for  shipment. 
Lack  of  dividends  created  first  suspicion  and  then  alarm.  There  was 
a  great  crash;  the  speculator  disappeared  from  the  range  and  left 
the  legitimate  miner  to  develop  the  mineral  wealth  through  slower 
and  stabler  processes. 

Years  ago  the  scientist.  Increase  A.  Lapham,  intimated  that 
vast  deposits  of  iron  lay  buried  in  the  range  that  crosses  the  boun- 
dary line  of  Wisconsin  and  the  northern  peninsula  of  Michigan.  It 
remained  for  Nat  Moore,  a  roving  adventurer,  to  make  the  discov- 
ery that  sent  scores  of  prospectors  to  the  region  between  Penokee 


The  Story  of  the  State.  315 


Gap  and  Gogebic  lake.  His  first  trip  to  the  Gogebic  was  in  1872, 
when  tie  made  a  dangerous  journey  of  a  tiundi-ed  and  ten  miles  on 
snowshoes.  It  was  some  years  later  that  he  made  another  long 
and  lonely  journey  through  the  woods,  and  following  the  path  cut 
through  the  tangled  forest  by  a  hurricane,  found  clean  hematite  ore 
under  the  roots  of  a  fallen  tree.  It  was  this  circumstance  that  made 
Moore  the  pioneer  of  the  Gogebic.  Like  John  E.  Burton,  who  be- 
came the  promoter  of  the  mining  properties,  he  amassed  in  a  couple 
of  years  a  fortune  estimated  at  several  millions  of  dollars.  Both 
men  lost  all  they  had  made  when  the  collapse  came. 


Timothy  O.  Howe. 


Alexander  W.  Randalu. 


Jeremiah  M.  Rusk. 


William  F.  Vilas. 


WISCONSIN'S    CABINET    REPRESENTATIVES. 

(Alexander  W.  Randall  served  in  President  Johnson's  cabinet  as  Postmaster- 
General;  Timothy  O.  Howe  in  President  Arthur's  cabinet  in  the  same  capacity, 
and  William  F.  Vilas  in  President  Cleveland's  cabinet.  The  latter  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  head  of  the  Interior  Department.  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk  was  Secretary 
of  Agriculture  in  President  Harrison's  cabinet.) 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
A.  D.  1897. 

This,  in  outline,  is  fhe  'history  of  Wisconsin  up  to  ttie  year  of  its 
golden  jubilee.  It  is  a  narrative  that  is  in  many  respects  unique. 
From  the  early  days  of  lawless  forest  commerce,  through  French 
dominion  and  British  rule  to  the  modern  era  of  progressive  Ameri- 
can statehood,  there  is  a  series  of  events  as  interesting  in  character 
if  not  as  important  in  scope,  as  those  which  tell  the  story  of  the 
cavaliers  of  Virginia,  the  pilgrims  of  Massachusetts,  or  the  fortune- 
seekers  of  California. 

There  is  no  oracle  to  prophesy  the  future  of  Wisconsin.  The 
commercial,  as  well  as  the  political  supremacy  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent  is  rapidly  moving  westward.  When  the  Mississippi 
valley  shall  be  the  seat  whence  the  determining  influences  upon  the 
nation  shall  emanate,  who  shall  venture  to  predict  the  share  allotted 
to  Wisconsin  in  guiding  the  destinies  of  the  people? 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  129. 

Albanel,  Father,  69. 

Alexander,  Chas.,  295. 

Allen,  Thos.  S.,  259. 

Allis,  E.  P.,  283,  295,  303,  305. 

Allouez,  Claude,  18,    25,    58,    61,    64,    65, 

67,  68,  69,  70,  71. 
Amherst,  Gen.  Jeffrey,  181. 
Anderson,  R.  B.,  292. 
Anderson,  Thos.  G.,  146,  147. 
Anderson,  Wendell  A.,  292. 
Andre,  Louis,  69. 
Ange,  Augustin,  137,  139. 
Antaya,  P*lerre,  137. 
Aqulpaguetin,  Indian  chief,  86. 
Armour,  Phil.  D.,  283. 
Arndt,  C.  C.,  188,  196,  197. 
Arnold,  A.  A.,  299. 
Arnold,  Jonathan  E.,  188. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  139,  152. 
Atkinson,  Gen.,  161,  178. 
Atwood,  David,  297. 
Babbitt,  Clinton,  298. 
Babcock,  J.  W.,  298. 
Bailey,  Jos.,  269,  270. 
Baird,  Mrs.  H.  S.,  33. 
Baird,  H.  S.,  223,   294. 
Baker,  Enos  S.,  196. 
Balfour,  Capt.,  107. 
Barney,  S.  S.,  298. 
Barber,  J.  Allen,  297,  298,  299. 
Barstow,  Wm.  A.,  223,  224,  230,  231,  233, 

294. 
Barre,  La  Febvre  de  la,  184. 
Barth,  Laurent,  137,  139, 
Barnes,  Lyman,  298. 
Barron,  H.  D.,  299. 
Barrows,  A.  R.,  299. 
Barwig,  Chas.,  298. 
Bashford,  Coles,  223,  224,  230,  231,  294. 
Beauharnois,  Marquis  de,  184. 
Beaujeau,  Capt.,  95. 
Beardsley,  J.  W.,  299. 
Bedford,  Thos.,  205. 
Bertley,  J.  H.,  295. 
Billinghurst,  Chas.,  297. 
Bingham,  Jas.  M.,  299. 
Blaine,  Jas.  G.,  234. 
Black  Hawk,  23,  150,  162,  172,   173,  174, 

175,  176,  177,  178,  179,  180. 
Blatz,  Val.,  283. 


Boisrondet,  Sieur  de,  84. 

Boilvin,  Col.  Nicholas,  142,  143,  165. 

Booth,  Sherman  M.,  226,  227,  228,  230. 

Bouck,  Gabe,  298,  299. 

Bourassa,  Charlotte,  112. 

Bowman,  Jonathan,  297. 

Bovay,  A.  E.,  234. 

Braddock,  Gen.,  22,  113,  114. 

Bradford,  Ira  B.,  299. 

Bradley,  J.  B.,  283. 

Bragg,   E.   S.,  254,  255,  290,  292,  297,  298. 

Brice,  Adele,  215. 

Brickner,  Geo.  H.,  298. 

Brigham,  Ebenezer,  153,  167. 

Brown,  J.  S.,  297. 

Brunson,  Dr.,  139. 

Buckstaff,  Geo.,  299. 

Bulger,   Capt.  A.   H.,  148,  149,  150,  151. 

Burns,  John,  256,  257. 

Burnett,  Thomas  P.,  187,  188. 

Burchard,  S.  D.,  298. 

Burrows,  G.  B.,  299. 

Burton,  John  E.,  311,  312,  315. 

Bushnell,  A.  M.,  298. 

Butler,  Dr.  J.  D.,  19. 

Butt,  C.  M.,  295. 

Butterfield,  C.  W.,  103. 

Cadotte,  Michael,  137. 

Calhoun,  John  C,  235,  236. 

Callis,  Gen.,  257. 

Calliere,  Louis  de,  184. 

Cameron,  Angus,  295,  297,  299. 

Campbell,  Jas.,  257. 

Campbell,  Colin,  295. 

Campbell,  Geo.,  189. 

Cardinelle,  Jean  Marie,  138. 

Carlton,  Guy,  184. 

Carpenter,  M.  H.,  230,  246,  281,  295,  296, 

292. 
Carver,    Capt.    Jonathan,    26,    122,    123, 

124,  125,  139. 
Case,  J.  L,  283. 
Cass,  Lewis,  146,  157,   161,  164,  185,    219. 

294. 
Cassody,  J.  B.,  295,  299. 
Caswell,  L.  B.,  289,  298. 
Gate,  Geo.  W.,  298. 
Catherwood,  Mrs.  Henry,  55,  121. 
Chamberlain,  Everett,  189. 
Chamberlin,  T.  C,  11,  12. 
Chase,  Warren,  189,  195. 


318 


Index —  Continued. 


319' 


Charlevoix,  P.,  19. 

Childs,  Ebenezer,  189. 

Clark,  C.  B.,  298. 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  26,  116,  127,  128, 

129. 
Cleghorn,  J.  P.,  295. 
Cobb,  Amasa,  258,  289,  297,  299. 
Coburn,  P.  P.,  298. 
Cochrane,  John,  295. 
Colby,  C.  L.,  297. 
Cole,  Orsamus,  295,  296,  297. 
Collins,  Jas.,  188,  223,  29-J. 
Cook,  S.  A.,  298. 
Cooper,  H.  A.,  298. 
Courcelle,  Daniel  de,  184. 
Cramahe,  Hector  T.,  184. 
Cramer,  Edw.,  293. 
Crawford,  Wm.  H.,  152. 
Crawford,  Samuel,  295. 
Crooks,  Ramsey,  119,  156. 
Cross,  J.  B.,  242,  294. 
Curtin,  Jeremiah,  292. 
Cushlng,  Wm.  B.,  262,  263,  234,  265,  266. 

267,  268. 
Cutler,  Manassah,  132. 
Dane,  Nathan,  132. 
D'Angouleme,  Duchess,  241. 
Darling,  Mason  C,  297. 
Davidson,  J.  H.,  298. 
Davis,  David  C,  293. 
Davis,  Jefferson,  271,  272,  274,  275. 
Dekora,  Indian  warrior,  179. 
Delaney,  A.  K.,  298. 
Denonvllle,  Marquis  de.  184. 
DePeyster,  Arent  S.,  116. 
Deuster,  P.  V.,  293,  298. 
Dewey,  Nelson,  220,  223,  291. 
Dlchman,  Ernst,  292. 
Dick,  William,  28. 
Dick,  Alonzo,  28. 
Dickson,  Robert,  144,  145,  146. 
Dixon,  L.  S.,  295,  297. 
Dodge,    Henry,    158.    161,    167,    177,    178, 

180,  185,  187,  188,  295. 
Donnelly,  J.  G.,  293. 
DooUttle,  Jas.  R.,     280,  281,  291,  295. 
Doran,  John  L.,  246. 
Doty,  J.  D.,    181,  182,  185,  185,  187,  188, 

297. 
Downer,  Jason,  295. 
Drake,  Geo.  C,  253. 
Dreutzer,  O.  E.,  293. 
Ducharme,  Dominie,  108,  137. 
Ducharme,  Jean,  108,  115. 
Duerst,  Mathias,  213,  214. 
Dunn,  Charles,  1S5,  187. 
Du  L'Hut.  Daniel.  56,  78.  79,  87,  88. 
Durkee,  Chas.,  189,  234,  295,  297. 
Durant,  E.  G.,  295. 


Eastman,  Benj.  C,  297. 

Ecuyer,  Jean,  138,  139. 

Edwards,  Ninian,  185. 

Ellis,  A.  G.,  236. 

Eldredge,  C.  A.,  297,  298,  289. 

Bngelmann,  N.,  283. 

Ernst,  Geo.  R.,  293. 

Esterley,  Geo.,  283. 

Etherington,  Capt,  109,  110. 

Fairchild,  Lucius,  244,  254,  292,  294,  299, 

Farnsworth,  William,  155. 

Parwell,  L.  J.,  222,  223,  294. 

Featherstonhaugh,  Geo.,  168. 

Ferguson,  Benj.,  294. 

Field,  W.  W.,  299. 

Fifleld,  S.  S.,  299. 

Pinch,  Earl  P.,  299. 

Pinch,  W.  R.,  292. 

Four  Legs,  Indian  chief,  96. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  129. 

Pratt,  N.  D.,  295. 

Frazer,  W.  C,  185. 

Fremont,  John  C,  234. 

Frontenac,  Count,  72,  80,  184. 

Gagnier,  Registre.  159. 

Galissoniere,  Count,  184. 

Gardner,  W.  E.,  293. 

Garfield,  J.  A.,  290,  291. 

Garland,  B.  S.,  226,  227. 

Gautier,  Chas.,  126,  127,  130. 

Giard,  Bazil,  137,  139, 

Gillespie,  Ezekiel,  282. 

Gilman,  Henry,  20. 

Gilson,  P.  L..  299. 

Glory  of  the  Morning,  26,  123,  130. 

Glover,  Joshua,  226,  227,  230. 

Goldschmidt,  Julius,  292. 

Gorrell,  Lieut.  Jas.,  107,  108,  109. 

Graham,  Warren,  2o3. 

Graham,  Duncan,  160. 

Gratiot,  Henry,  167. 

Griffin,  M.,  298. 

Grlgnon,  Augustin,  91,  113,  143. 

Groseilliers,   Medart,   24,   47,   48,   49,   50, 

51. 
Grottkau,  Paul,  301,  302,  307,  308. 
Guenther,  Richard,  292,  298. 
Haldimand,  Gen.,  184. 
Hall,  Daniel,  299. 
Hamilton,  Gen.,  126,  129. 
Hamilton,  Wm.  S.,  167,  180. 
Hanchett,  Luther,  297. 
Hanson,  Dr.,  241. 
Haraszthy,  Count  Augustus,  210. 
Harnden,  Henry,  271. 
Harrison.  Wm.  Henry.  183. 
Harvey,  l^Irs.  Cordelia.  2'.1. 
Harvey,  L.  P.,  189.  294,  223. 
Hastings,  S.  D.,  295. 


320 


Index —  Continued. 


Haugen,  Nils  P.,  289,  298. 

Hazelton,  G.  C,  297. 

Hazelton,  Gerry  W.,  297,  298. 

Heg,  Evan,  211. 

Heg,  Hans  C,  246. 

Henderson,  Robt.,  295. 

Hennepin,    Friar   Louis,   19,    78,    79,   SO, 

81,  83,  86,  87,  88,  105. 
Henry,  Alexander,  55,  118,  119,  120,  121, 

137. 
Hickox,  Geo.  W.,  188. 
Hickox,  Clark,  171. 
Hicks,  John,  292. 
Hoard,  W.  D.,  294. 

Hobart,  H.  C,  276,  277,  278,  279,  294,  293 
Hogan,  J.  J.,  299. 
Holton,  EJ.  D.,  188,  223,  242,  294. 
Hope,  Henry,  184. 
Hopkins,  Benj.  P.,  297. 
Horn,  Fred.  M.,  299. 
Houghton,  R.  P.,  283. 
Howard,  Gen.  Benjamin,  152. 
Howe,  Timothy  O.,  230,  233,  292,  295,  295 
Houghton,  G.  G.,  283. 
Hoy,  Dr.  R.  P.,  19. 
Hubbell,  Levi,  223,  295. 
Hudd,  Thos.  R.,  298. 
Hull,  Wm.,  299. 
Humphrey,  H.  L.,  298. 
Irvin,  David,  185. 
Irvine,  Palius  Emeline,  184. 
Jackson,  Andreiw,  185. 
Jackson,  Chester  E.,  293. 
Jackson,  M.  M.,  292,  295. 
Jay,  John,  129. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  132. 
Jenkins,  J.  J.,  298. 
Jenkins,  J.  G.,  295. 
Joinville,  Prince  de,  235,  236,  239. 
Joliet,  Louis,   66,   71,   72,   73,   74,   75,   76, 

77,  106. 
Jonas,  Carl,  293. 
Jones,  Burr  W.,  298. 
Jones,  Evan  R.,  293. 
Jones,  Geo.  W.,  185,  187. 
Jonquiere,  Marquis  de,  184. 
Jourdain,  Madeline,  236,  240. 
Juneau,  Solomon,  140. 
Kanouse,  T.  L.,  295. 
Keenan,  Geo.,  293. 
Keogh,  Edw.,  299. 
Keokuk,  Indian  chief,  180. 
Kelley,  J.  H.,  283. 
Kelly,  D.  M.,  297,  299. 
Kellogg,  L.  H.,  283. 
Kelton,  D.  H.,  37. 
Keyes,  E.  W.,  297. 
Kickbusch,  P.  W.,  293. 
Kilbourn,  Byron,  188. 


Kimball,  A.  M.,  298. 

King,  Rufus,  292. 

Knight,  J.  H.,  297. 

Knowlton,  Jas.  H.,  223,  230,  233,  295. 

La  Follette,  R.  M.,  298. 

La  Fourche,  Indian  chief.  111. 

La  Hontan,  Baron,  88,  106. 

Langlade,  Augustin,  111,  137. 

Langlade,    Chas.,    22,    92,    111,    113,    114, 

115,  116,  117,   118,  126,  127,   137. 
Lapham,  Increase  A.,  15,  16,  314. 
Larrabee,  C.  H.,  295,  297. 
La  Salle,  Robert  Cavelier,  18,  61,  63,  71, 

78,  80,  81,  82,  83,  84,  85. 
Lawe,  John,  156. 
Leavenworth,  Gen.,  96. 
Leland,  Frank,  293. 
Le  Sueur,  Pierre,  88. 
Lewis,  J.  T.,  294. 
Lignery,  Sieur  de,  94,  95. 
Lipcap,  Solomon,  159. 
Lockwood,  Judge,  159. 
Loomis,  A.  D.,  283. 
Long,  John,  130. 
Louvigny,  Sieur  de,  93,  94. 
Lovell,  P.  S.,  299. 
Loyer,  J.  B.,  160. 
Ludlngton,  Harrison,  283. 
Ludington,  Jas.,  283. 
Lynde,  W.  P.,  297,  298. 
Lynch,  Thos.,  298. 
Lyon,  W.  P.,  295,  297. 
McArthur,  Arthur,  231. 
McBride,  R:  P.,  293. 
McClellan,  Geo.  B.,  254. 
McCord,  M.  H.,  298. 
McDill,  A.  S.,  298. 
McGinley,  Daniel,  293. 
Mclndoe,  Walter  D.,  297. 
McKay,  Lieut-Col.  W.,  145,  147,  148. 
McKenney,  Col.  T.  L.,  161. 
Macy,  J.  B.,  297. 
Magoon,  H.  S.,  298. 
Mallory,  J.  A.,  295. 
Mandeville,  Jack,  160. 
Mann,  Curtis,  283. 
Mason,  Stevens  T.,  185. 
Marin,  Capt.  Perriere,  97,  98,  99,  100. 
Marquette,   Pere,   25,  63,   65,   68,   70,   71, 

72,  106. 
Marshall,  R.  D.,  295. 
Martin,  Morgan  L.,  188. 
May,  Reuben,  295. 
Meeker,  Dr.  Moses,  167. 
Menard,  Rene,  65,  66. 
Menneville,  Marquis  de,  184. 
Merriman,  C.  W.,  293. 
Metealf,  W.  H.,  283. 
Miller,  Capt.  John,  152. 


*i^.' 


Index —  Continued. 


321 


Miller,  L.  M.,  298. 

Mills,  T.  B.,  299. 

Minor,  E.  S.,  298. 

Mirandeau,  Jean  Baptiste,  137,  140. 

Mitchell,  Alex.,  257,  283,  297. 

Mitchell,  John  L,.,  295,  297,  298. 

Moore,  N.  D.,  312,  314. 

Morgan,  Jas.,  295. 

Morgan,  Maj.,  152. 

Murray,  Gen.  Jas.,  184. 

Nattestaad,  Ole  Knudson,  211. 

Nazro,  John,  283. 

Nea-pope,  Indian  warrior,  173,  174,  178. 

Neill,  E.  D.,  106. 

Newman,  A.  W.,  295. 

Nicolet,  Jean,   22,   41,  42,  43,  41,  71,  73. 

74,  75,  76,  77. 
Noble,  Wm.,  254. 
Olin,  John  M.,  295. 
Orton,  H.  S.,  230,  233,  295. 
Otjen,  Theo.,  298. 
Paine,  Byron,  228,  229,  289,  295. 
Paine,  H.  E.,  297. 
Palmer,  H.  L.,  294,  299. 
Parkinson,  Daniel  M.,  160. 
Pauquette,  Indian  trader,  112,  139,  140. 
Peck,  Geo.  W..  294,  295. 
Percival,  Jas.  G.,  210. 
Perkins,  Lieut.  James.,  144.  145,  147. 
Parrot,   Nicholas,   56,  57,   58,   59,  60,  61, 

62. 
Pfister,  Guido,  283. 
Pinney,  S.  U.,  295. 
Plankinton,  John,  283. 
Pontiac,  Indian  chief,  109,  110. 
Porter,  Geo.  B.,  185. 
Potter,  John  F.,  293,  297,  299. 
Pound,  T.  C,  298. 
Powell.  D.  F.,  295. 
Price,  H.  H.,  298. 
Price,  W.  T.,  297.  298. 
Pritchard,  Col.,  274,  275. 
Pryor,  Roger,  299. 
Quarles,  J.  V.,  297. 
Radisson,   Pierre,  24.   47,  48,   49,  50.  51, 

137. 
Randall.    A.    A.,    223.    230,    244.    292,   294. 

296. 
Rankin,  Jos.,  298. 
Reaume,  Judge  Chas.,  142. 
Red   Bird,    Indian    chief.    J58,    159,    161, 

162,  163,  164. 
Red  Thunder,  Indian  chief,  145. 
Reid,  T.  B.,  293. 
Reid,  A.  J.,  293- 
Returning  Cloud.  33. 
Reymert,  J.  D.,  211. 
Richmond.  T.  C,  295. 
Ribourde,  Gabriel,  84. 


Roberts,  Samuel,  130,  131. 

Robinson,  Chas.  D.,  32,  285,  294. 

Robinson,  W.  W.,  293. 

Rolette,  Joseph,  146,  153. 

Rounds,  Lester,  189. 

Rublee,  Horace,  289,  292,  296. 

Rublee,  \V.  A.,  293. 

Rusk,  Jeremiah,  292,  294,  297,  298,  305, 

309. 
Ryan,  E.  G.,  223,  230,  233,  247,  248,  295. 
Rycraft,  John,  230. 
St.  Clair,  Arthur,  185. 
St.  Cosme,  Father,  88. 
St.  Lusson,  50. 

Salomon,  Edward,  245,  249,  294,  295,  296. 
Sauerhering,  Edw.,  298. 
Sawyer,  Philetus,  289,  295,   296,  297,  298. 
Schilling,  Robert,  305,  306,  308. 
Schurz,  Carl,  208,  292. 
gcofield,  Edw.,  294. 
Seymour,  Chas,  293. 
Shafter,  Jas.  M.,  299. 
Shaw,  Geo.  B.,  298. 
Shaw,  John,  163. 
Shelby.  Isaac,  145. 
Sherman,  Wm.  T.,  2.13. 
Sholes,  C.  C,  299. 
Silverthorn,  W.  C,  295. 
Simcoe,  John  Graves,  184. 
Smith,  Aaron,  201. 
Smith,   A.  D.,  228,  295. 
Smith,  Campbell.  189. 
Smith,  Henry,  298. 
Smith,  Hyrum.  199. 
Smith,  J.   B.,  226.  242. 
Smith,  Joseph.  199. 
Smith,  Wm.  E.,  294,  295,  299,  308. 
Sloan,  A.  Scott.  297. 
Sloan,  I.  C,  297. 
Snelling,  Col.,  161. 
Spooner,  John  C  294.  295. 
Somers,  P.  J.,  298. 
Stedman,  W.  P.,  27,5. 
Stephenson,  Isaac.  298. 
Stewart,  Alex.,  298. 
Stow,  Alexander,  295. 
Strang,  James  J.,  188.  198.  199,  200.  201. 

202.  203,  204.  205,  206. 
Strong,  Moses  M.,  196,  299. 
Sumner,  D.  H..  298. 
Spooner,  Roger,  293. 
Spooner.  Wyman,  299. 
Tallmadge,  J.  J..  185,  188.  294. 
Taylor,  David,  295. 
Taylor,  W.  R.,  284.  294,  295. 
Taylor.  Zachary,  169,  177,  180,  219.  292. 
Tecumseh.  Indian  chief,  144. 
Thomas,  O.  B..  298. 
Thomson,  A.  M..  299. 


322 


Tnder. — Continue'^. 


Thormaehlen,  Anton,  251. 
Tomah,  Indian  chief,  144. 
Tonty,  Henry  de,  56,  75,   78,  80,   83.   84. 

85. 
Toopunkah  Zeze,  Indian  chief,  157. 
Traeumer,  Geo.  P.,  308. 
Truesdell,  G.,  283. 
Tuttle,  Hiram,  293. 
Tuttrop,  Christ.,  295. 
Turner,  F.  J.,  156. 
Turner,  A.  J.,  291. 
Tv.eedy,  J.  H.,  223,  294. 
Upham,  D.  A.  J.,  223,  242,  243,  294. 
Upham,  "W.  H.,  294. 
Utley,  W.  L.,  295. 
Van  Nostrand,  Jas.,  201. 
Van  Schaick,  I.  W.,  298. 
Vaudreuil,  Marquis  de,  184. 
Vieau,  Jacques,  140. 
Vilas,  Wm.  F.,  291,  292,  295,  297. 
Villiers,  Sieur  de,  95,  96. 
Vineyard,  Jas.  R.,  188,  196,  197. 
Vogel,  Fred,  283. 
Waldo,  O.  H.,  296. 
"^'alker,  Isaac  P.,  225,  280,  295. 
Walking  Turtle,  Indian  chief,  162. 
Wallber,  Albert,  276. 


Wallber,  Emil,  305. 

Washburn,  C.  C,  283,  289,  294,  296,  297. 

Washington,  George,  22,  113,  114. 

Wekau,  Indian  warrior,  159,  162,  163. 

Wells,  D.  A.,  298. 

Wells,  Daniel,  283,  297. 

Wenthworth,  Alex.,  205. 

West,  W.  B.,  293. 

West,  T.  S.,  276,  277. 

Wheelan,  Jirah  B.,  201. 

Wheeler,  Ezra,  297. 

Whistler,  Gen.,  161. 

Whitcomb,  Edw.,  201. 

White  Cloud,  Indian  prophet,  173. 

WTiitesides,  N.  E.,  299. 

Wliiton,  E.  v.,  230,  295. 

Wight,  Lyman,  198. 

Wight,  W.  W.,  239. 

Williams,  C.  G.,  289,  297,  298. 

Williams,  Eleazer,  181,  235,  23G.  2.37.  23^. 

239,  240,  241. 
Winans,  John,  298. 
Winslow,  J.  B.,  295. 
Woodward,  Gilbert  M..  295,  298. 
Wolfe,  Gen.,  115. 
Young,  Brigham,  200. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


w^X 


^iKoS 


Qjarter   ccRiS'Ti     ^'^ 


4£a 


itsr  — 


REC'DLD    MAR  iJ  2  71-12  AM  07 


CD 


.1:^  go'  t^ccr' 


■ter 


mm 


LD  21A-50»rt-4,'59 
(A1724sl0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


"V  STACKS 


HhHKELEY  LIBRARIE. 


03fiT3E7afl 


LDg^ 


20 


'^■''''^(A3,. 


LIBRARY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  BEFORE  CLOSING  TIME 
ON  LAST  DATE  STAMPED  BELOW 

uRDApy  USE 

■  I  -  -, 

WMir^^*P\    I    r^ 

mjRiS^u  LD    sj 

JL3-*6$-4pj| 

,    ,.   •  •  =  -  ■•  ■.. 

' 

TT-icoA    -n^.T'fii;                                   General  Library 
hD  62A-oOm-7,  b6                             ITniversitv  of  California 
(P5756sl0)9412A                              ^"'"^^j^^^g,";^"'*"^'"^ 

RY 


